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Is Norfolk Southern (NSC) Stock Outpacing Its Transportation Peers This Year?

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The Transportation group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Norfolk Southern (NSC - 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? One simple way to answer this question is to take a look at the year-to-date performance of NSC and the rest of the Transportation group's stocks.

Norfolk Southern is a member of the Transportation sector. This group includes 152 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #3. 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 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. NSC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NSC's full-year earnings has moved 1.39% higher within the past quarter. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Based on the latest available data, NSC has gained about 12.35% so far this year. At the same time, Transportation stocks have lost an average of 4.26%. This means that Norfolk Southern is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Breaking things down more, NSC is a member of the Transportation - Rail industry, which includes 10 individual companies and currently sits at #49 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 11.16% so far this year, so NSC is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

Investors in the Transportation sector will want to keep a close eye on NSC as it attempts to continue its solid performance.


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