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Is James Hardie Industries (JHX) Stock Outpacing Its Construction Peers This Year?

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For those looking to find strong Construction stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Has James Hardie (JHX - Free Report) been one of those stocks this year? By taking a look at the stock's year-to-date performance in comparison to its Construction peers, we might be able to answer that question.

James Hardie is one of 97 individual stocks in the Construction sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #8 in 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 emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find stocks with improving earnings outlooks. This system has a long record of success, and these stocks tend to be on track to beat the market over the next one to three months. James Hardie is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for JHX's full-year earnings has moved 8.7% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Based on the most recent data, JHX has returned 76.2% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Construction group have gained about 31.7% on average. This shows that James Hardie is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Lennar (LEN - Free Report) is another Construction stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 39.3%.

For Lennar, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 8.4% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, James Hardie belongs to the Building Products - Miscellaneous industry, a group that includes 27 individual stocks and currently sits at #37 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 37% so far this year, so JHX is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

Lennar, however, belongs to the Building Products - Home Builders industry. Currently, this 19-stock industry is ranked #144. The industry has moved +51.2% so far this year.

James Hardie and Lennar could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Construction stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.


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