Outperform is a term used in finance and investing to describe a situation where a company or security has produced a better rate of return than similar companies or securities in the same industry or index.1 It is commonly used as a rating given by analysts who publicly research and recommend securities, indicating that they believe the security will produce higher returns than the major market indexes.1 The term is also used to describe how the returns of one investment compare to another, and is most commonly applied to a comparison between one investment and the market in general.1 Investment professionals almost always compare investment returns with a benchmark index, such as the S&P 500 index, so the term is often used in reference to whether a particular investment has outperformed the S&P 500. 1