Is Nucor (NUE) Stock Outpacing Its Basic Materials Peers This Year?

Investors interested in Basic Materials stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Has Nucor (NUE) been one of those stocks this year? 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.

Nucor is a member of the Basic Materials sector. This group includes 295 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #12. 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 is a successful stock-picking model that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions. The system highlights a number of different stocks that could be poised to outperform the broader market over the next one to three months. Nucor is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for NUE's full-year earnings has moved 8.8% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

Based on the most recent data, NUE has returned 67.7% so far this year. At the same time, Basic Materials stocks have gained an average of 4%. This shows that Nucor is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Teck Resources Ltd (TECK) is another Basic Materials stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 29.1%.

For Teck Resources Ltd, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 7.6% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Nucor belongs to the Steel - Producers industry, a group that includes 17 individual stocks and currently sits at #113 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 38.9% so far this year, so NUE is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, Teck Resources Ltd falls under the Mining - Miscellaneous industry. Currently, this industry has 99 stocks and is ranked #161. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +2.4%.

Nucor and Teck Resources Ltd 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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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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