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Industry vs. Sector: What’s the Difference?

Filed Under: BUSINESS, Investopedia

Reviewed by Michael J Boyle
Fact checked by Vikki Velasquez

Industry vs. Sector: An Overview

Although some may think they are the same, the terms “industry” and “sector” have different meanings. Industry refers to a specific group of similar types of companies, while sector describes a larger segment of the economy. In the stock market, the generally accepted terminology cites a sector as a broad classification and an industry as a more narrow one.

Analysts and other financial writers might create confusion if they use the terms interchangeably or if they reverse the meanings behind the two terms. But they can avoid such confusion by referring to a sector as a broad economic segment that contains industries, while an industry falls within a sector and breaks down according to more specific companies and business activities.

Key Takeaways

  • Industry refers to a group of companies that operate in a similar business sphere, and its categorization is narrow.
  • Sector refers to a part of the economy into which various industries consisting of a great number of companies can be fit, and is larger in comparison.
  • Investors often compare companies within the same industry for investment opportunities.
  • Stocks of companies in the same industry will usually trade in the same direction, as their fundamentals can be affected by market factors in the same way.
  • There are four types of sector groupings in the economy: primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary.

Industry

Industry refers to a specific group of companies that operate in a similar business sphere and have similar business activities. Industries are created by breaking down sectors into more defined groupings. Therefore, an industry is a subcategory of a sector.

Industry Examples

Examples of industries include banks, asset management companies, insurance companies, and brokerages. Companies that fall into the same industry offer similar products or services and compete for customers who require them. For instance, banks will compete with one another for customers who require checking and savings accounts. Asset management firms compete for investment clients.

Industries can be further categorized into more specific groups. For example, the insurance industry can be broken up into different, specialized divisions like home, auto, life, malpractice, and corporate insurance.

Investors often compare different companies within the same industry. These are apples-to-apples comparisons since the companies may share the same or similar production processes, customer type, financial reporting, or responsiveness to policy changes.

Moreover, the stocks of companies within the same industry will typically see price moves in the same direction, since they’re affected by the same (or similar) factors, including market changes. So, for example, within the healthcare sector, the stocks in the healthcare provider and services industry may respond in the same way when decisions about the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are made in Washington, D.C.

Important

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) facilitates the straightforward comparison of statistics of business activity across North America.

Sector

A sector is a general segment of the economy that contains similar industries. An economy can be broken down into about a dozen sectors which can describe nearly all of the business activity in that economy. Economists can obtain an understanding of the economy by looking at each sector.

There are four types of sector groupings in the U.S. economy:

  • Primary Sector: This grouping deals with the extraction and harvesting of natural resources such as agriculture and mining.
  • Secondary Sector: This grouping pertains to construction, manufacturing, and processing. Its sectors relate to the production of finished goods from raw materials.
  • Tertiary Sector: This grouping includes services, such as retail sales, entertainment, recreation, and communications. Companies in the tertiary sector provide services to the primary and secondary sectors as well as to consumers.
  • Quaternary Sector: This sector grouping deals with knowledge or intellectual pursuits including research and development (R&D) and education.

Sector Examples

The economy’s basic materials sector includes companies that deal with the exploration, processing, and selling of basic materials such as gold, silver, or aluminum. These materials are then used by other sectors of the economy. This is a primary sector.

Transportation is another sector of the economy. This sector includes automobile manufacturing, train, trucking, and airline industries. It is a tertiary sector.

Specific exchange-traded funds (ETFs) may track particular sectors. One such ETF is the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund.

Investors can use sectors as a way to categorize the stocks in which they invest, such as telecommunications, transport, healthcare, and financials. Each sector comes with its own characteristics and risks.

Use in Financial Analysis

When evaluating companies, it is more prudent to evaluate those within an industry than those throughout a sector. This is so because, as noted above, each sector has many different industries.

For example, the transportation and warehousing sector includes a variety of industries relating to different types of transport, including air transportation. But if you want to compare companies that build planes, such as Boeing and Airbus, it would be best to look at the aerospace industry within this sector, and not the sector as a whole.

Though all of the companies in the sector could be affected by similar factors, they have completely different purposes, capital expenditures, cash flows, operating margins, and so on.

Therefore, when utilizing financial ratios to compare one company to the next, again, look at companies in the same industry. In other words, compare Boeing to Airbus as opposed to an airline catering service.

Key Differences

Industry

  • An industry groups similar companies together. It exists as a subset of a particular sector.
  • As an economic component, an industry is smaller than a sector.
  • An industry can grow or otherwise shift with time. As innovations emerge, an industry could become obsolete and disappear.
  • Industries are classified according to the products and services that the companies within them offer.
  • As a subset of a sector, and representing such specific economic contributors, industries rank lowest in the economic order.
  • An analysis of an industry provides a drilled-down view of companies and their performances, as well as the overall performance of the industry.
  • Industry oversight can be straightforward and strictly enforced because of the limited, well-defined business types and activities.

Sector

  • A sector groups various industries together.
  • A sector represents a larger swath of the economy than an industry because it can contain thousands of industries.
  • Due to their broader scope, sectors are typically more stable than industries, especially the secondary and tertiary types (because of their essential industries).
  • Sectors are classified broadly according to common business practices among industries.
  • In the overall economic order, sectors rank second because they contain all economic contributors.
  • An analysis of a sector provides a higher-level view of the economy compared to the view offered by an industry.
  • Sector oversight is more relaxed or general due to the huge number of industries that sectors contain, and the oversight already in place for industries.
Quick Reference Comparison
  Industry  Sector
Defined Groups similar companies Groups similar industries
Breadth Contains many companies Contains thousands of industries
Change Potential May grow or shrink over time Normally, remains stable due to broader diversification
Classification According to products and services of companies According to commonalities among industries
Ranking Last in the economic order Second in the economic order
Analysis Targeted view of companies’ details and performances Higher level view of industries’ performances
Gov’t Oversight Stricter enforcement possible due to limited business types and activities Less involved due to large number of industries and existing industry oversight

Explain Like I’m Five

Sector and industry are terms used to make generalizations about a large group of companies. A sector is a larger category than an industry, though. Manufacturing is considered a “sector,” while auto manufacturing is an industry within that sector.

Analysts often compare companies in the same industry because they tend to be very similar. If you compare any two companies in the same sector, they will probably be very different.

Which Is Bigger, an Industry or a Sector?

A sector is the larger of the two. It can group thousands of industries together. An industry groups similar companies.

Is Manufacturing a Sector or an Industry?

Manufacturing is a sector. It contains companies that mechanically, physically, or chemically change materials, substances, or components into different products.

Who Classifies Industries and Why?

The U.S. government uses the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) to classify industries. It does so to gather, analyze, and report a range of data about the U.S. economy.

The Bottom Line

Industry vs. sector. The two terms are often used interchangeably but they have distinct meanings for investors, analysts, and the federal government.

An industry represents a group of similar business establishments. It is a subset of the larger sector. A sector groups industries, based on their common features and according to the sector type into which their business practices fit (primary, secondary, tertiary, or quaternary).

Grouping companies into specific categories that reflect their similarities allows for a more effective view and comparison of their functions, operating activities, and business results.

Chipotle Will Try Expanding To Mexico, Where Taco Bell Once Failed Miserably

Filed Under: THE NEWS, Zerohedge

Chipotle Will Try Expanding To Mexico, Where Taco Bell Once Failed Miserably

Chipotle Mexican Grill announced plans this week to enter the crowded Mexican market, partnering with local firm Alsea—which operates brands like Starbucks, Domino’s, and Burger King—to open restaurants by early 2026, a new report from FastCompany says.

But the question then arises whether fast food Mexican can cut it in the land of tacos and burritos…

FastCompany explored the idea that Americanized versions of local cuisines have struggled abroad. Domino’s failed to win over Italians, and Taco Bell’s two attempts to conquer Mexico flopped.

In fact, Taco Bell’s 1992 debut collapsed within two years, as crispy tacos were “an anomaly” and had to be rebranded as “tacostadas.”

As one critic put it, it was like “bringing ice to Antarctica.” Taco Bell tried again in 2007, emphasizing convenience over authenticity. “Foolish gringos,” a Monterrey food writer commented, and the brand withdrew once more.

Chipotle hasn’t directly addressed these failures but promises its offerings “will resonate with guests in Mexico,” according to chief business development officer Nate Lawton.

“The country’s familiarity with our ingredients and affinity for fresh food make it an attractive growth market for our company.” Alsea CEO Armando Torrado added that his company brings “vast knowledge of the Mexican consumer.”

Still, some experts question Chipotle’s authenticity, noting its burritos prioritize heft over variety. Its current bestseller—a honey chicken burrito—seems designed more for American tastes.

Yet Taco Bell now has over 8,000 global locations, including hundreds in Central and South America, proving success is still possible. And with global trade rules in flux and about half its avocados sourced from tariff-vulnerable Mexico, Chipotle’s push to diversify its customer base makes strategic sense.

Whether Mexican consumers will embrace its burritos remains to be seen, the report concludes. 

Tyler Durden
Sat, 05/10/2025 – 09:55

Scott Jennings Says the Democratic Party Is Going to Get Hit ‘with the Equivalent of a Nuclear Bomb’ Next Week

Filed Under: Gateway Pundit, INVESTIGATIONS

Former President Joe Biden’s years-long cognitive decline amounts to perhaps the worst-kept secret in American political history.

Now, in the wake of Biden’s calamitous appearance Thursday on ABC’s “The View,” and with Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again” set for release on May 20, CNN conservative commentator Scott Jennings anticipates explosive revelations.

In fact, Jennings called the expected revelations “the equivalent of a nuclear bomb dropped on the Democratic Party.”

The conservative commentator made that remark Thursday on CNN’s “NewsNight with Abby Phillip.”

“Watching him over the last few days,” Jennings said of Biden in a clip posted to the social media platform X, “reminded me that a whole bunch of people were telling us with a straight face that this man was capable of serving another four years as president.”

Indeed, earlier Thursday on “The View,” Biden delivered such an incoherent response to a question about his cognitive decline that former first lady Jill Biden stepped in to answer the question for him.

The former president also gave a nonsensical reply to a question about former Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2024 election defeat. That answer, however, probably stemmed as much from Biden’s wokeness as from his diminished intellect.

Likewise, Biden mumbled his way through an interview with BBC’s Nick Robinson, published Wednesday.

“And that — these appearances,” Jennings continued, “coupled with what I understand is going to be the equivalent of a nuclear bomb dropped on the Democratic Party when Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s book come out next week.”

The conservative commentator then paused for a brief moment before delivering his prediction.

“I don’t know that the Democrats have fully internalized what’s about to happen to them,” Jennings said.

“Between what he looks like today and what they’re about to report, get ready,” he added.

With his use of the phrase “nuclear bomb,” Jennings certainly teased quite a potential set of revelations.

Of course, one can only guess at the nature of those revelations. To justify the tease, they would almost certainly have to involve Democrats’ and the establishment media’s attempted cover-up of Biden’s condition. After all, anyone with eyes and hears could recognize the former president’s decline long before 2024.

Indeed, Biden’s recent public appearances suggest a rehabilitation strategy in anticipation of “Original Sin.” According to Politico, the former president has hired his former deputy press secretary and Defense Department spokesman, Chris Meagher, to help with that strategy.

But enough is enough. For many years, Biden’s public appearances have amounted to a form of elder abuse. The time has come to stop the charade and let the former president fade into permanent obscurity.

The bottom line, as Jennings hinted, is that Democrats knew the extent of Biden’s decline and lied about it. Assuming the party’s reputation with the American public could possibly sink any lower, this should do it.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.

The post Scott Jennings Says the Democratic Party Is Going to Get Hit ‘with the Equivalent of a Nuclear Bomb’ Next Week appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

PBS: Pope ‘In Line With The Gospel,’ But Not ‘Right-Wing Politics’

Filed Under: INVESTIGATIONS, Newsbusters

The cast of Friday’s PBS News Hour joyfully welcomed the election of Pope Leo XIV on Friday as they tried to claim him as one of their own as all hailed him as the anti-Trump figure the country needs, but all also avoided any parts of Leo that might make them uncomfortable.

Host Geoff Bennett was not content to facilitate the discussion between New York Times columnist David Brooks and Washington Post associate editor Jonathan Capehart; he also got in on the commentary, “David, this might be the first pope with a social media trail, because, before he became Pope Leo, Cardinal Robert Prevost occasionally posted on social media. His posts and reposts have been dissected by many, criticized by some of those on the right. And his posts have suggested that he supports protecting immigrants, reducing gun violence, combating climate change, certainly in line with the Gospel, maybe not in line with right-wing politics.”

 

 

He then wondered, “What questions, if any, does this really pose for the faithful who also see themselves as being Trump supporters?”

Those waiting for the eventually counterpart about liberals, abortion, and LGBTQ issues would be well advised not to hold their breath. As it was, Brooks replied, “First, I just say I found it incredibly moving to watch him give his first remarks as pope, in part because here I was watching an American on the world stage being a decent human being and being a good person. So I found it so just refreshing to see America portrayed in this way by this man.”

Forgetting that countries like Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea exist, Brooks continued by comparing today’s United States to the 1970’s Soviet Union:

Secondly, I think the cardinals did a brilliant thing in selecting an American, which was so unexpected. But a couple decades ago, when the Soviet Union was the chief problem area in the world, the cardinals selected John Paul II, a Pole, and he was — helped end communism.

Now America is the most troubled nation in the world, and they select an American who represents Catholic social teaching, who represents a series of teaching about the marginalized, about the dignity of all human people, about welcoming the stranger. And they knew what they were doing.

Brooks kept rolling, “They picked somebody — if Donald Trump is about pagan values, about dominance, power, control, victory, conquest, here’s a guy about blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the meek. And that’s a complete social change and a moral challenge to Trumpism.”

Concluding, Brooks suggested that their might be something wrong with capitalism and compared it to communism:

And that’s a complete social change and a moral challenge to Trumpism. And the final thing I will say is that, during World War II, in the middle of the 20th century, there was communism on one side, there was capitalism on the other side, these two machines. And the Catholics gave us a system in the middle there, which they called personalism, a guy named Jacques Maritain, Emmanuel Mounier. And that was a more humane version to combat the dehumanizing processes that were afflicting left and right. And so who knows, but this pope could be a real moral force in the country and especially in America.

As for Capehart, he also looked at Leo’s election “as an incredible rebuke to the American president.”

 

 

He further claimed:

Here you have an American pope who is as a leader in the world going to go toe to toe with the American president who, from everything we have seen, is the complete opposite of the Holy Father. And so the question then becomes, what do American Catholics do when they have an American pope who speaks the teachings of Jesus Christ, all the things that David was talking about, and yet they have been supporting a man who is antithetical to all of those things. To me, I look forward to Pope Leo XIV, but I really look forward to seeing what American Catholics do in response.

Not only did none of the three men talk about the challenges Leo posses to liberalism, Geoff Bennett awkwardly transitioned to other topics, “Well, from the pope to former President Biden, there is a through line there since, Biden is the most devout Catholic… The second Catholic elected, but certainly the most devout, you could argue.”

And PBS wonders why Trump decided now was the time to cut off their access to taxpayer money.

Sign the petition to help us defund another MSNBC in PBS and NPR at defundpbsnpr.org.

Here is a transcript for the May 9 show:

PBS News Hour

5/9/2025

7:44 PM ET

GEOFF BENNETT: So, the election of this new pope, the first American pope, provides a fresh lens to discuss the influence of religion on our politics, especially Trumpism.

And, David, this might be the first pope with a social media trail, because, before he became Pope Leo, Cardinal Robert Prevost occasionally posted on social media. His posts and reposts have been dissected by many, criticized by some of those on the right. And his posts have suggested that he supports protecting immigrants, reducing gun violence, combating climate change, certainly in line with the Gospel, maybe not in line with right-wing politics.

What questions, if any, does this really pose for the faithful who also see themselves as being Trump supporters?

DAVID BROOKS: First, I just say I found it incredibly moving to watch him give his first remarks as pope, in part because here I was watching an American on the world stage being a decent human being and being a good person. So I found it so just refreshing to see America portrayed in this way by this man.

Secondly, I think the cardinals did a brilliant thing in selecting an American, which was so unexpected. But a couple decades ago, when the Soviet Union was the chief problem area in the world, the cardinals selected John Paul II, a Pole, and he was — helped end communism.

Now America is the most troubled nation in the world, and they select an American who represents Catholic social teaching, who represents a series of teaching about the marginalized, about the dignity of all human people, about welcoming the stranger. And they knew what they were doing.

They picked somebody — if Donald Trump is about pagan values, about dominance, power, control, victory, conquest, here’s a guy about blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the meek.

And that’s a complete social change and a moral challenge to Trumpism. And the final thing I will say is that, during World War II, in the middle of the 20th century, there was communism on one side, there was capitalism on the other side, these two machines. And the Catholics gave us a system in the middle there which they called personalism, a guy named Jacques Maritain, Emmanuel Mounier.

And that was a more humane version to combat the dehumanizing processes that were afflicting left and right. And so who knows, but this pope could be a real moral force in the country and especially in America.

BENNETT: A real moral force.

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Well, one, I could not help but think of Pope Leo XIV while reading David’s column in The New York Times.

But my immediate thought after saying, “Oh, my gosh, it’s an American pope,” I instantly thought, but looking at it politically to your point, David, I thought, this is kind of — how could I not look at this as an incredible rebuke to the American president?

Because here you have an American pope who is as a leader in the world going to go toe to toe with the American president who, from everything we have seen, is the complete opposite of the Holy Father. And so the question then becomes, what do American Catholics do when they have an American pope who speaks the teachings of Jesus Christ, all the things that David was talking about, and yet they have been supporting a man who is antithetical to all of those things.

To me, I look forward to Pope Leo XIV, but I really look forward to seeing what American Catholics do in response.

BENNETT: Well, from the pope to former President Biden, there is a through line there since, Biden is the most devout Catholic—

CAPEHART: Okay.

BENNETT: —ever to—

CAPEHART:  That’s true.

BENNETT: The second Catholic elected, but certainly the most devout, you could argue.

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