Has ESAB Corporation ( ESAB ) stock outperformed its industrial products competition this year?

Industrial Products Group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always look for companies that are outperforming their peers. Esab (ESAB) is a stock that could certainly attract the attention of many investors, but do its recent returns compare favorably to the sector as a whole? A quick look at the company’s year-to-date performance relative to the rest of the industrial products sector should help us answer this question.

Esab is one of 221 companies in the Industrial Products group. The Industrial Products group currently sits at #4 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 an effective stock-picking model that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions. The system highlights a range of different stocks that are likely to outperform the broader market over the next one to three months. Esab is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ESAB’s full-year earnings has moved 2.3%. This means that analyst sentiment is improving and the company’s earnings outlook is more positive.

Our latest available data shows that ESAB’s return has been approximately 18.1% since the beginning of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the industrial products sector returned an average of 5.9% year-over-year. This means that Esab is performing better than its industry in terms of annual return.

DNOW (DNOW) is another Industrial Products stock that has outperformed the sector this year. Since the beginning of the year, the share price has increased by 24.9%.

Over the past three months, DNOW’s consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 3.6%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

More specifically, Esab belongs to the Metal Products – Procurement and Fabrication industry, a group that consists of 11 individual companies and currently sits at #27 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, the group’s shares have gained 15.9% this year, meaning ESAB has outperformed in terms of profitability year-to-date.

DNOW, on the other hand, belongs to the manufacturing industry – general industry. Currently, this industry has 44 companies and ranks 84th. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has grown by +4.3%.

Investors interested in the industrial products sector may want to keep a close eye on Esab and DNOW as they look to maintain their strong performance.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today you can download the top 7 stocks for the next 30 days. Click to get this free report

ESAB Corporation (ESAB): Free Stock Analysis Report

DNOW Inc. (DNOW): Free Stock Analysis Report

To read this article on Zacks.com click here.

Zacks Investment Research