The Construction group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Babcock International Group PLC (BCKIY) 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 Construction sector should help us answer this question.

Babcock International Group PLC is a member of the Construction sector. This group includes 90 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #13. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different groups, measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the sector to gauge the strength of each group.

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. Babcock International Group PLC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for BCKIY's full-year earnings has moved 9.3% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

According to our latest data, BCKIY has moved about 82.7% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, stocks in the Construction group have lost about 9.6% on average. This means that Babcock International Group PLC is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

One other Construction stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Vinci SA (VCISY). The stock is up 37.9% year-to-date.

Over the past three months, Vinci SA's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 4.3%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

To break things down more, Babcock International Group PLC belongs to the Engineering - R and D Services industry, a group that includes 17 individual companies and currently sits at #55 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has lost an average of 12.6% so far this year, so BCKIY is performing better in this area.

In contrast, Vinci SA falls under the Building Products - Heavy Construction industry. Currently, this industry has 10 stocks and is ranked #47. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved -10.6%.

Going forward, investors interested in Construction stocks should continue to pay close attention to Babcock International Group PLC and Vinci SA 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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