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

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For those looking to find strong Industrial Products stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Is Caterpillar (CAT - 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 Industrial Products sector should help us answer this question.

Caterpillar is a member of the Industrial Products sector. This group includes 186 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #4. The Zacks Sector Rank gauges the strength of our 16 individual sector groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups.

The Zacks Rank is a proven model that highlights a variety of stocks with the right characteristics to outperform the market over the next one to three months. The system emphasizes earnings estimate revisions and favors companies with improving earnings outlooks. Caterpillar is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CAT's full-year earnings has moved 6.7% higher within the past quarter. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

According to our latest data, CAT has moved about 49.6% on a year-to-date basis. In comparison, Industrial Products companies have returned an average of 20.8%. This means that Caterpillar is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Another stock in the Industrial Products sector, Gorman-Rupp (GRC - Free Report) , has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 77.1%.

Over the past three months, Gorman-Rupp's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 2.7%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Looking more specifically, Caterpillar belongs to the Manufacturing - Construction and Mining industry, which includes 6 individual stocks and currently sits at #81 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 42.4% this year, meaning that CAT is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

Gorman-Rupp, however, belongs to the Manufacturing - General Industrial industry. Currently, this 41-stock industry is ranked #61. The industry has moved +11.6% so far this year.

Caterpillar and Gorman-Rupp could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Industrial Products stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.

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