The transportation sector is lagging so far this year relative to the performance of utilities and healthcare. Railroads form a big portion of the transportation sector.

The year-to-date returns of major North American Class I railroad stocks is shown below:

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The 5-year returns of major North American Class I railroad stocks is shown below:

Source: Google Finance

The major railroads are Canadian National Railway Co (CNI), Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd(CP), CSX Corp (CSX), Kansas City Southern (KSU), Norfolk Southern Corp(NSC) and Union Pacific Corp (UNP).

In the 5-year period most of these stocks have performed very well with CSX more than doubling in price. Overall railroad stocks are excellent for long-term holding.

Disclosure: Long CSX, CNI, UNP and NSC