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Are Transportation Stocks Lagging Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL) This Year?

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Investors interested in Transportation stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL - 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? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Old Dominion Freight Line is one of 110 companies in the Transportation group. The Transportation group currently sits at #2 within the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank includes 16 different groups and is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors.

The Zacks Rank is a proven system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. Old Dominion Freight Line is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ODFL's full-year earnings has moved 8.6% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Based on the latest available data, ODFL has gained about 33.6% so far this year. At the same time, Transportation stocks have gained an average of 14.1%. As we can see, Old Dominion Freight Line is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Another Transportation stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Pacific Basin Shipping Ltd. (PCFBY - Free Report) . The stock has returned 59.3% year-to-date.

Over the past three months, Pacific Basin Shipping Ltd.'s consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 51.7%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Old Dominion Freight Line belongs to the Transportation - Truck industry, a group that includes 12 individual stocks and currently sits at #10 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 33.7% so far this year, so ODFL is slightly underperforming its industry this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, Pacific Basin Shipping Ltd. belongs to the Transportation - Shipping industry. This 28-stock industry is currently ranked #30. The industry has moved +42.2% year to date.

Old Dominion Freight Line and Pacific Basin Shipping Ltd. could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Transportation stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.

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