Are Transportation Stocks Lagging Marten Transport (MRTN) This Year?

For those looking to find strong Transportation stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Has Marten Transport, Ltd. (MRTN) been one of those stocks this year? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Transportation sector should help us answer this question.

Marten Transport, Ltd. is one of 110 individual stocks in the Transportation sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #1 in 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. Marten Transport, Ltd. is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for MRTN's full-year earnings has moved 22.7% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the most recent data, MRTN has returned 30% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Transportation sector has returned an average of 14.1% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, Marten Transport, Ltd. is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Another Transportation stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is International Seaways (INSW). The stock has returned 98.1% year-to-date.

Over the past three months, International Seaways' consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 60.4%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Looking more specifically, Marten Transport, Ltd. belongs to the Transportation - Truck industry, which includes 12 individual stocks and currently sits at #9 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 34.8% so far this year, so MRTN is slightly underperforming its industry in this area.

In contrast, International Seaways falls under the Transportation - Shipping industry. Currently, this industry has 28 stocks and is ranked #40. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +47.5%.

Going forward, investors interested in Transportation stocks should continue to pay close attention to Marten Transport, Ltd. and International Seaways 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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