Is A. O. Smith (AOS) Stock Outpacing Its Industrial Products Peers This Year?

The Industrial Products group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Is A.O. Smith (AOS) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.A.O. Smith is one of 187 companies in the Industrial Products group. The Industrial Products group currently sits at #3 within 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. A.O. Smith is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AOS' full-year earnings has moved 2.1% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.According to our latest data, AOS has moved about 6.2% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, the Industrial Products sector has returned an average of 4.6% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, A.O. Smith is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.Another stock in the Industrial Products sector, Halma (HLMAF), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 39.9%.Over the past three months, Halma's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 1.2%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).Breaking things down more, A.O. Smith is a member of the Manufacturing - Electronics industry, which includes 15 individual companies and currently sits at #157 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 12.5% so far this year, so AOS is slightly underperforming its industry in this area. In contrast, Halma falls under the Security and Safety Services industry. Currently, this industry has 17 stocks and is ranked #8. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +29.7%.Investors interested in the Industrial Products sector may want to keep a close eye on A.O. Smith and Halma as they attempt to continue their solid performance.5 Stocks Set to DoubleEach was handpicked by a Zacks expert as the #1 favorite stock to gain +100% or more in the coming year. While not all picks can be winners, previous recommendations have soared +112%, +171%, +209% and +232%.Most of the stocks in this report are flying under Wall Street radar, which provides a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor.Today, See These 5 Potential Home Runs >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report A. O. Smith Corporation (AOS): Free Stock Analysis Report Halma (HLMAF): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks