Are Construction Stocks Lagging Arcosa (ACA) This Year?

The Construction group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Is Arcosa (ACA) one of those stocks right now? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Construction sector should help us answer this question.

Arcosa is a member of our Construction group, which includes 92 different companies and currently sits at #14 in 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 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. Arcosa is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ACA's full-year earnings has moved 11.8% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

According to our latest data, ACA has moved about 5.2% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, the Construction sector has returned an average of 4.7% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Arcosa is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

Another Construction stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Babcock International Group PLC (BCKIY). The stock has returned 162.9% year-to-date.

The consensus estimate for Babcock International Group PLC's current year EPS has increased 1.1% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, Arcosa belongs to the Building Products - Miscellaneous industry, a group that includes 33 individual companies and currently sits at #153 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has lost an average of 1.1% so far this year, so ACA is performing better in this area.

Babcock International Group PLC, however, belongs to the Engineering - R and D Services industry. Currently, this 15-stock industry is ranked #155. The industry has moved +18.3% so far this year.

Arcosa and Babcock International Group PLC could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Construction stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

Zacks Investment Research

Source Zacks-com