Are Construction Stocks Lagging Century Communities (CCS) This Year?

CCS BLD

For those looking to find strong Construction stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Has Century Communities (CCS - Free Report) been one of those stocks this year? By taking a look at the stock's year-to-date performance in comparison to its Construction peers, we might be able to answer that question.

Century Communities is one of 99 individual stocks in the Construction sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #1 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 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. Century Communities is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for CCS' full-year earnings has moved 33% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

According to our latest data, CCS has moved about 39.8% on a year-to-date basis. At the same time, Construction stocks have gained an average of 26.9%. This shows that Century Communities is outperforming its peers so far this year.

One other Construction stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is TopBuild (BLD - Free Report) . The stock is up 71.2% year-to-date.

Over the past three months, TopBuild's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 12.7%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

To break things down more, Century Communities belongs to the Building Products - Home Builders industry, a group that includes 19 individual companies and currently sits at #4 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 40.2% so far this year, meaning that CCS is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, TopBuild belongs to the Building Products - Miscellaneous industry. This 27-stock industry is currently ranked #19. The industry has moved +28% year to date.

Century Communities and TopBuild could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Construction stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.

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