Are Basic Materials Stocks Lagging Eldorado Gold (EGO) 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. Eldorado Gold Corporation (EGO) is a stock that can certainly grab the attention of many investors, but do its recent returns compare favorably to the sector as a whole? By taking a look at the stock's year-to-date performance in comparison to its Basic Materials peers, we might be able to answer that question.

Eldorado Gold Corporation is one of 238 individual stocks in the Basic Materials sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #8 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 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. Eldorado Gold Corporation is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for EGO's full-year earnings has moved 15.8% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the latest available data, EGO has gained about 34.1% so far this year. At the same time, Basic Materials stocks have gained an average of 13.6%. As we can see, Eldorado Gold Corporation is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Another stock in the Basic Materials sector, Allegheny Technologies (ATI), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 60%.

Over the past three months, Allegheny Technologies' consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 3.8%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Eldorado Gold Corporation belongs to the Mining - Gold industry, which includes 39 individual stocks and currently sits at #23 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 51.5% so far this year, meaning that EGO is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.

Allegheny Technologies, however, belongs to the Steel - Speciality industry. Currently, this 5-stock industry is ranked #28. The industry has moved +54.3% so far this year.

Eldorado Gold Corporation and Allegheny Technologies 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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