Is American Airlines (AAL) Stock Outpacing Its Transportation Peers This Year?

AAL ALK

Investors interested in Transportation stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Is American Airlines (AAL - Free Report) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

American Airlines is one of 132 companies in the Transportation group. The Transportation group currently sits at #10 within the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different sector groups. The average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups is measured, and the sectors are listed from best to worst.

The Zacks Rank is a successful stock-picking model that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions. The system highlights a number of different stocks that could be poised to outperform the broader market over the next one to three months. American Airlines is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AAL's full-year earnings has moved 15.6% higher within the past quarter. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

According to our latest data, AAL has moved about 17.2% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, the Transportation sector has returned an average of 4.8% on a year-to-date basis. This means that American Airlines is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

Another Transportation stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Alaska Air Group (ALK - Free Report) . The stock has returned 5.4% year-to-date.

For Alaska Air Group, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 5.1% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Breaking things down more, American Airlines is a member of the Transportation - Airline industry, which includes 29 individual companies and currently sits at #41 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 12% so far this year, so AAL is performing better in this area. Alaska Air Group is also part of the same industry.

Going forward, investors interested in Transportation stocks should continue to pay close attention to American Airlines and Alaska Air Group as they could maintain their solid performance.

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