For those looking to find strong Transportation stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Has United Continental Holdings (UAL Quick QuoteUAL - 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.

United Continental Holdings is a member of our Transportation group, which includes 150 different companies and currently sits at #1 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank gauges the strength of our 16 individual sector groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups.

The Zacks Rank is a proven system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. UAL is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for UAL's full-year earnings has moved 12.84% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the most recent data, UAL has returned 4.47% so far this year. In comparison, Transportation companies have returned an average of 10.40%. This means that United Continental Holdings is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

To break things down more, UAL belongs to the Transportation - Airline industry, a group that includes 28 individual companies and currently sits at #7 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 9% so far this year, so UAL is slightly underperforming its industry in this area.

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