Is ABB (ABBNY) Stock Outpacing Its Industrial Products Peers This Year?

Investors interested in Industrial Products stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. ABB (ABBNY) 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? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Industrial Products sector should help us answer this question.

ABB is one of 181 individual stocks in the Industrial Products sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #6 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 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. ABB is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ABBNY's full-year earnings has moved 20% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Our latest available data shows that ABBNY has returned about 36.1% since the start of the calendar year. In comparison, Industrial Products companies have returned an average of 10.2%. This shows that ABB is outperforming its peers so far this year.

One other Industrial Products stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is CECO Environmental (CECO). The stock is up 30.9% year-to-date.

For CECO Environmental, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 14.9% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

To break things down more, ABB belongs to the Manufacturing - Electronics industry, a group that includes 14 individual companies and currently sits at #103 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 11.7% so far this year, so ABBNY is performing better in this area.

CECO Environmental, however, belongs to the Pollution Control industry. Currently, this 5-stock industry is ranked #172. The industry has moved -3.4% so far this year.

ABB 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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ABB Ltd (ABBNY) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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

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