Is Lennar (LEN) Stock Outpacing Its Construction Peers This Year?
For those looking to find strong Construction stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Has Lennar (LEN) been one of those stocks this year? 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.
Lennar is a member of our Construction group, which includes 97 different companies and currently sits at #1 in the Zacks Sector Rank. 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. Lennar is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for LEN's full-year earnings has moved 6.1% higher within the past quarter. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.
Our latest available data shows that LEN has returned about 23% since the start of the calendar year. In comparison, Construction companies have returned an average of 22.6%. This shows that Lennar is outperforming its peers so far this year.
Martin Marietta (MLM) is another Construction stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 26.2%.
In Martin Marietta's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 11.7% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, Lennar belongs to the Building Products - Home Builders industry, which includes 19 individual stocks and currently sits at #36 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 33.6% so far this year, meaning that LEN is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.
Martin Marietta, however, belongs to the Building Products - Concrete and Aggregates industry. Currently, this 8-stock industry is ranked #43. The industry has moved +26.4% so far this year.
Going forward, investors interested in Construction stocks should continue to pay close attention to Lennar and Martin Marietta as they could maintain their solid performance.
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