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Is Caterpillar (CAT) Stock Outpacing Its Industrial Products Peers This Year?

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Investors interested in Industrial Products stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Is Caterpillar (CAT - 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.

Caterpillar is one of 219 companies in the Industrial Products group. The Industrial Products group currently sits at #6 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. Caterpillar is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for CAT's full-year earnings has moved 8.6% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Based on the most recent data, CAT has returned 13.5% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Industrial Products group have lost about 10.5% on average. This means that Caterpillar is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Another stock in the Industrial Products sector, Axon Enterprise (AXON - Free Report) , has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 19.7%.

For Axon Enterprise, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 37.2% 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 #20 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 13.7% so far this year, so CAT is slightly underperforming its industry this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, Axon Enterprise belongs to the Security and Safety Services industry. This 24-stock industry is currently ranked #61. The industry has moved -15.4% year to date.

Investors interested in the Industrial Products sector may want to keep a close eye on Caterpillar and Axon Enterprise as they attempt to continue their solid performance.


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