For those looking to find strong Basic Materials stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Is Materion (MTRN) one of those stocks right now? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Basic Materials sector should help us answer this question.
Materion is a member of the Basic Materials sector. This group includes 248 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #13. 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 model that highlights a variety of stocks with the right characteristics to outperform the market over the next one to three months. The system emphasizes earnings estimate revisions and favors companies with improving earnings outlooks. Materion is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for MTRN's full-year earnings has moved 3% higher within the past quarter. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.
Our latest available data shows that MTRN has returned about 58.4% since the start of the calendar year. In comparison, Basic Materials companies have returned an average of 13.7%. As we can see, Materion is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.
Another stock in the Basic Materials sector, Minerals Technologies (MTX), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 29.6%.
In Minerals Technologies' case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 1.3% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
To break things down more, Materion belongs to the Mining - Miscellaneous industry, a group that includes 72 individual companies and currently sits at #190 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 20.9% so far this year, meaning that MTRN is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.
In contrast, Minerals Technologies falls under the Chemical - Specialty industry. Currently, this industry has 44 stocks and is ranked #172. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +10.6%.
Investors interested in the Basic Materials sector may want to keep a close eye on Materion and Minerals Technologies as they attempt to continue their solid performance.
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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.
