Are Basic Materials Stocks Lagging Air Products and Chemicals (APD) This Year?

The Basic Materials group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Is Air Products and Chemicals (APD) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Air Products and Chemicals is a member of the Basic Materials sector. This group includes 279 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #14. 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 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. Air Products and Chemicals is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for APD's full-year earnings has moved 1.9% higher within the past quarter. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

Based on the most recent data, APD has returned 18% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Basic Materials group have gained about 17.1% on average. This means that Air Products and Chemicals is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Another Basic Materials stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Avient (AVNT). The stock has returned 32.6% year-to-date.

For Avient, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 4% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Air Products and Chemicals belongs to the Chemical - Diversified industry, a group that includes 31 individual stocks and currently sits at #85 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 14.8% so far this year, so APD is performing better in this area. Avient is also part of the same industry.

Investors interested in the Basic Materials sector may want to keep a close eye on Air Products and Chemicals and Avient as they attempt to continue their solid performance.

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

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