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Are Construction Stocks Lagging Installed Building Products (IBP) 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. Installed Building Products (IBP - 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? 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.

Installed Building Products is a member of the Construction sector. This group includes 98 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #1. 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 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. Installed Building Products is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for IBP's full-year earnings has moved 7.4% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

Our latest available data shows that IBP has returned about 35% since the start of the calendar year. At the same time, Construction stocks have gained an average of 12.5%. As we can see, Installed Building Products is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

One other Construction stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Knife River (KNF - Free Report) . The stock is up 17.3% year-to-date.

For Knife River, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 5.9% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

To break things down more, Installed Building Products belongs to the Building Products - Miscellaneous industry, a group that includes 29 individual companies and currently sits at #8 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 16.1% so far this year, so IBP is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns. Knife River is also part of the same industry.

Going forward, investors interested in Construction stocks should continue to pay close attention to Installed Building Products and Knife River as they could maintain their solid performance.


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