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Are Industrial Products Stocks Lagging Caterpillar (CAT) This Year?

For those looking to find strong Industrial Products stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Has Caterpillar (CAT) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Caterpillar is one of 219 individual stocks in the Industrial Products sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #3 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 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. Caterpillar is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CAT's full-year earnings has moved 9.5% higher within the past quarter. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Based on the most recent data, CAT has returned 12.4% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Industrial Products group have lost about 13.1% on average. As we can see, Caterpillar is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Another Industrial Products stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is CECO Environmental (CECO). The stock has returned 86.7% year-to-date.

For CECO Environmental, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 15.1% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Caterpillar belongs to the Manufacturing - Construction and Mining industry, which includes 7 individual stocks and currently sits at #13 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 12.5% this year, meaning that CAT is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, CECO Environmental belongs to the Pollution Control industry. This 8-stock industry is currently ranked #19. The industry has moved -11.9% year to date.

Caterpillar and CECO Environmental could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Industrial Products stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.

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CECO Environmental Corp. (CECO) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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Zacks Investment Research