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Is USA Truck (USAK) Outperforming Other Transportation Stocks This Year?

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Investors interested in Transportation stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. USA Truck is a stock that can certainly grab the attention of many investors, but do its recent returns compare favorably to the sector as a whole? One simple way to answer this question is to take a look at the year-to-date performance of USAK and the rest of the Transportation group's stocks.

USA Truck is one of 139 companies in the Transportation group. The Transportation group currently sits at #7 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 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. USAK is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for USAK's full-year earnings has moved 27.54% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Our latest available data shows that USAK has returned about 71.67% since the start of the calendar year. At the same time, Transportation stocks have gained an average of 5.35%. This means that USA Truck is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

To break things down more, USAK belongs to the Transportation - Truck industry, a group that includes 12 individual companies and currently sits at #31 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 22.30% so far this year, so USAK is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

Going forward, investors interested in Transportation stocks should continue to pay close attention to USAK as it looks to continue its solid performance.

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