The Basic Materials group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Has Materion (MTRN) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.
Materion is one of 275 companies in the Basic Materials group. The Basic Materials group currently sits at #14 within 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 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. Materion is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for MTRN's full-year earnings has moved 1.8% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.
According to our latest data, MTRN has moved about 95.4% on a year-to-date basis. At the same time, Basic Materials stocks have gained an average of 4.7%. As we can see, Materion is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.
Another Basic Materials stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Minerals Technologies (MTX). The stock has returned 23.7% year-to-date.
The consensus estimate for Minerals Technologies' current year EPS has increased 1.7% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Breaking things down more, Materion is a member of the Mining - Miscellaneous industry, which includes 85 individual companies and currently sits at #202 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 8.4% so far this year, so MTRN is performing better in this area.
On the other hand, Minerals Technologies belongs to the Chemical - Specialty industry. This 46-stock industry is currently ranked #93. The industry has moved +12.9% year to date.
Investors with an interest in Basic Materials stocks should continue to track Materion and Minerals Technologies. These stocks will be looking to continue their solid performance.
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Materion Corporation (MTRN): Free Stock Analysis Report
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).