Investors interested in Transportation stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Has Southwest Airlines (LUV – Free Report) been one of those stocks this year? Let’s take a closer look at the stock’s year-to-date performance to find out.
Southwest Airlines is a member of our Transportation group, which includes 131 different companies and currently sits at #15 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 emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find stocks with improving earnings outlooks. This system has a long record of success, and these stocks tend to be on track to beat the market over the next one to three months. Southwest Airlines is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).
Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for LUV’s full-year earnings has moved 66.4% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock’s earnings outlook is more positive.
According to our latest data, LUV has moved about 16.4% on a year-to-date basis. In comparison, Transportation companies have returned an average of -2.7%. This means that Southwest Airlines is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.
Another Transportation stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is ZIM Integrated Shipping Services (ZIM – Free Report) . The stock has returned 117.5% year-to-date.
In ZIM Integrated Shipping Services’ case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 36.1% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
Looking more specifically, Southwest Airlines belongs to the Transportation – Airline industry, which includes 28 individual stocks and currently sits at #25 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 31.1% so far this year, so LUV is slightly underperforming its industry this group in terms of year-to-date returns.
In contrast, ZIM Integrated Shipping Services falls under the Transportation – Shipping industry. Currently, this industry has 42 stocks and is ranked #237. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +5.9%.
Investors interested in the Transportation sector may want to keep a close eye on Southwest Airlines and ZIM Integrated Shipping Services as they attempt to continue their solid performance.
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