Investors focused on the Aerospace space have likely heard of Northrop Grumman (NOC Quick QuoteNOC - Free Report) , but is the stock performing well in comparison to the rest of its sector peers? One simple way to answer this question is to take a look at the year-to-date performance of NOC and the rest of the Aerospace group's stocks.

Northrop Grumman is a member of our Aerospace group, which includes 33 different companies and currently sits at #1 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 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. NOC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NOC's full-year earnings has moved 1.15% 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, NOC has gained about 50.73% so far this year. In comparison, Aerospace companies have returned an average of 32.74%. This shows that Northrop Grumman is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Breaking things down more, NOC is a member of the Aerospace - Defense industry, which includes 11 individual companies and currently sits at #9 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 31.10% so far this year, meaning that NOC is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

Going forward, investors interested in Aerospace stocks should continue to pay close attention to NOC as it looks to continue its solid performance.