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Are Construction Stocks Lagging M.D.C. (MDC) This Year?

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The Construction group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Is M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. one of those stocks right now? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Construction sector should help us answer this question.

M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. is one of 96 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. M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for MDC's full-year earnings has moved 39.2% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

Our latest available data shows that MDC has returned about 24.5% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Construction group have gained about 20.9% on average. This means that M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

Another stock in the Construction sector, Meritage Homes (MTH - Free Report) , has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 26.7%.

In Meritage Homes' case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 26.7% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. belongs to the Building Products - Home Builders industry, a group that includes 18 individual stocks and currently sits at #26 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 32.7% this year, meaning that MDC is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns. Meritage Homes is also part of the same industry.

Going forward, investors interested in Construction stocks should continue to pay close attention to M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. and Meritage Homes as they could maintain their solid performance.


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