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Is Leidos (LDOS) Stock Outpacing Its Aerospace Peers This Year?

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For those looking to find strong Aerospace stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Is Leidos (LDOS - Free Report) one of those stocks right now? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Aerospace sector should help us answer this question.

Leidos is a member of our Aerospace group, which includes 46 different companies and currently sits at #12 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 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. Leidos is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for LDOS' full-year earnings has moved 3.8% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the latest available data, LDOS has gained about 16.6% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Aerospace sector has returned an average of -6.3% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Leidos is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

One other Aerospace stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC (RYCEY - Free Report) . The stock is up 35.3% year-to-date.

The consensus estimate for Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC's current year EPS has increased 25% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Leidos belongs to the Aerospace - Defense industry, a group that includes 23 individual stocks and currently sits at #98 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have lost about 10.5% so far this year, so LDOS is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC falls under the Aerospace - Defense Equipment industry. Currently, this industry has 22 stocks and is ranked #185. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +7.6%.

Going forward, investors interested in Aerospace stocks should continue to pay close attention to Leidos and Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC as they could maintain their solid performance.


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Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC (RYCEY) - free report >>

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