Has Kronos Worldwide (KRO) Outpaced Other Basic Materials Stocks This Year?

For those looking to find strong Basic Materials stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Has Kronos Worldwide (KRO) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Kronos Worldwide is one of 240 individual stocks in the Basic Materials sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #2 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank gauges the strength of our 16 individual sector groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups.

The Zacks Rank emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find stocks with improving earnings outlooks. This system has a long record of success, and these stocks tend to be on track to beat the market over the next one to three months. Kronos Worldwide is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for KRO's full-year earnings has moved 2.4% higher within the past quarter. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Our latest available data shows that KRO has returned about 5.4% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Basic Materials sector has returned an average of 5.3% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, Kronos Worldwide is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Another stock in the Basic Materials sector, SQM (SQM), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 47.8%.

In SQM's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 65.9% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Breaking things down more, Kronos Worldwide is a member of the Chemical - Diversified industry, which includes 38 individual companies and currently sits at #162 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have lost about 6% so far this year, so KRO is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, SQM falls under the Fertilizers industry. Currently, this industry has 7 stocks and is ranked #3. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +34.6%.

Kronos Worldwide and SQM 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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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.