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Is Covenant Logistics (CVLG) Stock Outpacing Its Transportation Peers This Year?

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For those looking to find strong Transportation stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Covenant Logistics (CVLG - Free Report) is a stock that can certainly grab the attention of many investors, but do its recent returns compare favorably to the sector as a whole? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Covenant Logistics is one of 139 individual stocks in the Transportation sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #4 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different groups, measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the sector to gauge the strength of each group.

The Zacks Rank emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find stocks with improving earnings outlooks. This system has a long record of success, and these stocks tend to be on track to beat the market over the next one to three months. Covenant Logistics is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for CVLG's full-year earnings has moved 4.3% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Our latest available data shows that CVLG has returned about 65.2% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Transportation sector has returned an average of 6.7% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Covenant Logistics is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

One other Transportation stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Norfolk Southern (NSC - Free Report) . The stock is up 18.4% year-to-date.

For Norfolk Southern, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 1.4% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Covenant Logistics belongs to the Transportation - Truck industry, which includes 12 individual stocks and currently sits at #17 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 57.1% this year, meaning that CVLG is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, Norfolk Southern falls under the Transportation - Rail industry. Currently, this industry has 10 stocks and is ranked #238. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +16.3%.

Covenant Logistics and Norfolk Southern could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Transportation stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.


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