Investors interested in Transportation stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Has AerCap (AER) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

AerCap is a member of the Transportation sector. This group includes 124 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #15. 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 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. AerCap is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AER's full-year earnings has moved 2.7% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Based on the latest available data, AER has gained about 17.4% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Transportation group have lost about 7.9% on average. This means that AerCap is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

Another Transportation stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Air France-KLM SA (AFLYY). The stock has returned 16.2% year-to-date.

Over the past three months, Air France-KLM SA's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 1.3%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, AerCap belongs to the Transportation - Equipment and Leasing industry, a group that includes 10 individual stocks and currently sits at #74 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 3.2% so far this year, so AER is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, Air France-KLM SA falls under the Transportation - Airline industry. Currently, this industry has 29 stocks and is ranked #89. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved -11.1%.

Investors interested in the Transportation sector may want to keep a close eye on AerCap and Air France-KLM SA as they attempt to continue their solid performance.

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Aercap Holdings N.V. (AER):Free Stock Analysis Report

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

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