Investors interested in Basic Materials stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Is Albemarle (ALB) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.
Albemarle is a member of our Basic Materials group, which includes 248 different companies and currently sits at #11 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank includes 16 different groups and is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors.
The Zacks Rank is a proven system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. Albemarle is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ALB's full-year earnings has moved 194.9% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.
According to our latest data, ALB has moved about 37.3% on a year-to-date basis. At the same time, Basic Materials stocks have gained an average of 18%. This means that Albemarle is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.
Another stock in the Basic Materials sector, LyondellBasell (LYB), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 66.3%.
For LyondellBasell, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 57.3% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Breaking things down more, Albemarle is a member of the Chemical - Diversified industry, which includes 29 individual companies and currently sits at #208 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 32.6% so far this year, meaning that ALB is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns. LyondellBasell is also part of the same industry.
Albemarle and LyondellBasell could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Basic Materials stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.
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LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (LYB) : Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
