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Is Caterpillar (CAT) Outperforming Other Industrial Products Stocks This Year?

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The Industrial Products group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Caterpillar (CAT - Free Report) 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? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Caterpillar is a member of the Industrial Products sector. This group includes 219 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #13. 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. Caterpillar is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CAT's full-year earnings has moved 1.3% higher within the past quarter. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

According to our latest data, CAT has moved about 6.1% on a year-to-date basis. In comparison, Industrial Products companies have returned an average of -15.2%. This means that Caterpillar is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

Graphic Packaging (GPK - Free Report) is another Industrial Products stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 18.1%.

For Graphic Packaging, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 5.9% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Breaking things down more, Caterpillar is a member of the Manufacturing - Construction and Mining industry, which includes 7 individual companies and currently sits at #89 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 6.4% so far this year, so CAT is slightly underperforming its industry this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, Graphic Packaging belongs to the Containers - Paper and Packaging industry. This 11-stock industry is currently ranked #215. The industry has moved -6.2% year to date.

Caterpillar and Graphic Packaging could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Industrial Products stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.


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