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Are Aerospace Stocks Lagging General Dynamics (GD) This Year?

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Investors interested in Aerospace stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Is General Dynamics (GD - 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.

General Dynamics is one of 82 companies in the Aerospace group. The Aerospace group currently sits at #4 within the Zacks Sector Rank. 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 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. General Dynamics is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for GD's full-year earnings has moved 1.9% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

According to our latest data, GD has moved about 11.2% on a year-to-date basis. In comparison, Aerospace companies have returned an average of -9.5%. This means that General Dynamics is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Another Aerospace stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is GE Aerospace (GE - Free Report) . The stock has returned 4.1% year-to-date.

Over the past three months, GE Aerospace's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 3.7%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, General Dynamics belongs to the Aerospace - Defense industry, a group that includes 42 individual companies and currently sits at #96 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have lost about 10.4% so far this year, so GD is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns. GE Aerospace is also part of the same industry.

General Dynamics and GE Aerospace could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Aerospace stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.

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