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 L.B. Foster (FSTR) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.
L.B. Foster is a member of our Basic Materials group, which includes 279 different companies and currently sits at #15 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 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. L.B. Foster is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for FSTR's full-year earnings has moved 4% higher within the past quarter. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.
According to our latest data, FSTR has moved about 38.6% on a year-to-date basis. In comparison, Basic Materials companies have returned an average of 13.9%. As we can see, L.B. Foster is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.
One other Basic Materials stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Innospec (IOSP). The stock is up 21.4% year-to-date.
The consensus estimate for Innospec's current year EPS has increased 4.9% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, L.B. Foster belongs to the Steel - Producers industry, which includes 17 individual stocks and currently sits at #81 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 44.2% so far this year, so FSTR is slightly underperforming its industry this group in terms of year-to-date returns.
In contrast, Innospec falls under the Chemical - Diversified industry. Currently, this industry has 31 stocks and is ranked #98. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +13.7%.
L.B. Foster and Innospec 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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L.B. Foster Company (FSTR): Free Stock Analysis Report
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).