Investors focused on the Construction space have likely heard of Acuity Brands (AYI Quick QuoteAYI - Free Report) , but is the stock performing well in comparison to the rest of its sector peers? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Acuity Brands is one of 98 companies in the Construction group. The Construction group currently sits at #1 within 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 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. AYI is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AYI's full-year earnings has moved 13.62% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Our latest available data shows that AYI has returned about 58.26% since the start of the calendar year. At the same time, Construction stocks have gained an average of 18.73%. This means that Acuity Brands is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Looking more specifically, AYI belongs to the Building Products - Lighting industry, a group that includes 4 individual stocks and currently sits at #213 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 46.48% so far this year, so AYI is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

AYI will likely be looking to continue its solid performance, so investors interested in Construction stocks should continue to pay close attention to the company.