For those looking to find strong Transportation stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Has Union Pacific (UNP Quick QuoteUNP - Free Report) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Union Pacific is a member of the Transportation sector. This group includes 152 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #6. 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 is a proven model that highlights a variety of stocks with the right characteristics to outperform the market over the next one to three months. The system emphasizes earnings estimate revisions and favors companies with improving earnings outlooks. UNP is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for UNP's full-year earnings has moved 1.02% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the latest available data, UNP has gained about 12.22% so far this year. In comparison, Transportation companies have returned an average of -2.43%. This shows that Union Pacific is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Looking more specifically, UNP belongs to the Transportation - Rail industry, a group that includes 10 individual stocks and currently sits at #27 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 13.92% so far this year, so UNP is slightly underperforming its industry this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

Investors in the Transportation sector will want to keep a close eye on UNP as it attempts to continue its solid performance.