The Aerospace group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Astronics Corporation (ATRO) 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 Aerospace sector should help us answer this question.

Astronics Corporation is a member of our Aerospace group, which includes 53 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 proven system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. Astronics Corporation is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ATRO's full-year earnings has moved 36.4% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Our latest available data shows that ATRO has returned about 91.7% since the start of the calendar year. In comparison, Aerospace companies have returned an average of 13.8%. This means that Astronics Corporation is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Bae Systems PLC (BAESY) is another Aerospace stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 70.8%.

In Bae Systems PLC's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 4.2% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Astronics Corporation belongs to the Aerospace - Defense Equipment industry, a group that includes 27 individual stocks and currently sits at #44 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 8.7% so far this year, so ATRO is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns. Bae Systems PLC is also part of the same industry.

Going forward, investors interested in Aerospace stocks should continue to pay close attention to Astronics Corporation and Bae Systems PLC 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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