The Construction group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Is Altair Engineering (ALTR) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Altair Engineering is one of 88 companies in the Construction group. The Construction group currently sits at #7 within the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different sector groups. The average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups is measured, and the sectors are listed from best to worst.

The Zacks Rank is a successful stock-picking model that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions. The system highlights a number of different stocks that could be poised to outperform the broader market over the next one to three months. Altair Engineering is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ALTR's full-year earnings has moved 11.1% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

Our latest available data shows that ALTR has returned about 29.6% since the start of the calendar year. At the same time, Construction stocks have gained an average of 15.3%. This shows that Altair Engineering is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Cavco (CVCO) is another Construction stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 30%.

Over the past three months, Cavco's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 3.8%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Breaking things down more, Altair Engineering is a member of the Engineering - R and D Services industry, which includes 18 individual companies and currently sits at #129 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 11.1% so far this year, so ALTR is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, Cavco belongs to the Building Products - Mobile Homes and RV Builders industry. This 5-stock industry is currently ranked #161. The industry has moved +2.5% year to date.

Altair Engineering and Cavco could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Construction stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.

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