For those looking to find strong Industrial Products stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Is W.W. Grainger (GWW) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

W.W. Grainger is one of 220 companies in the Industrial Products group. The Industrial Products group currently sits at #11 within the Zacks Sector Rank. 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 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. W.W. Grainger is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for GWW's full-year earnings has moved 6.7% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the latest available data, GWW has gained about 0.6% so far this year. In comparison, Industrial Products companies have returned an average of -20.8%. This means that W.W. Grainger is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

One other Industrial Products stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Reliance Steel (RS). The stock is up 16.9% year-to-date.

In Reliance Steel's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 1.4% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, W.W. Grainger belongs to the Industrial Services industry, a group that includes 24 individual companies and currently sits at #196 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has lost an average of 27.2% so far this year, so GWW is performing better in this area.

Reliance Steel, however, belongs to the Metal Products - Distribution industry. Currently, this 5-stock industry is ranked #13. The industry has moved -16.8% so far this year.

Investors with an interest in Industrial Products stocks should continue to track W.W. Grainger and Reliance Steel. These stocks will be looking to continue their solid performance.

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