Are Industrial Products Stocks Lagging IDEX (IEX) This Year?

Investors interested in Industrial Products stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Idex (IEX) is a stock that can certainly grab the attention of many investors, but do its recent returns compare favorably to the sector as a whole? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Idex is one of 188 individual stocks in the Industrial Products sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #11 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. Idex is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for IEX's full-year earnings has moved 3% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Based on the latest available data, IEX has gained about 27.5% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Industrial Products sector has returned an average of 25.5% on a year-to-date basis. This shows that Idex is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Another stock in the Industrial Products sector, Watts Water (WTS), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 41.8%.

For Watts Water, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 1.7% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Idex belongs to the Manufacturing - General Industrial industry, which includes 42 individual stocks and currently sits at #90 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 13.1% so far this year, so IEX is performing better in this area. Watts Water is also part of the same industry.

Going forward, investors interested in Industrial Products stocks should continue to pay close attention to Idex and Watts Water as they could maintain their solid performance.

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

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