Are Basic Materials Stocks Lagging L.B. Foster (FSTR) 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 L.B. Foster (FSTR) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

L.B. Foster is one of 279 individual stocks in the Basic Materials sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #15 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different groups, measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the sector to gauge the strength of each group.

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).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for FSTR's full-year earnings has moved 4% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

According to our latest data, FSTR has moved about 39.2% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, stocks in the Basic Materials group have gained about 20.8% on average. This means that L.B. Foster is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Another stock in the Basic Materials sector, Innospec (IOSP), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 22.6%.

Over the past three months, Innospec's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 4.9%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Breaking things down more, L.B. Foster is a member of the Steel - Producers industry, which includes 17 individual companies and currently sits at #158 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 41.3% so far this year, meaning that FSTR is slightly underperforming its industry 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 #97. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +21.1%.

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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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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