The Basic Materials group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Has Gold Fields (GFI) been one of those stocks this year? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Basic Materials sector should help us answer this question.
Gold Fields is one of 242 individual stocks in the Basic Materials sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #12 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank includes 16 different groups and is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors.
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. Gold Fields is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).
Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for GFI's full-year earnings has moved 7% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.
Based on the most recent data, GFI has returned 217.9% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Basic Materials group have gained about 24.1% on average. As we can see, Gold Fields is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.
Mosaic (MOS) is another Basic Materials stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 41.1%.
In Mosaic's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 10.7% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, Gold Fields belongs to the Mining - Gold industry, a group that includes 42 individual stocks and currently sits at #67 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 120.5% so far this year, meaning that GFI is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.
Mosaic, however, belongs to the Fertilizers industry. Currently, this 6-stock industry is ranked #19. The industry has moved +23.7% so far this year.
Gold Fields and Mosaic 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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Gold Fields Limited (GFI): Free Stock Analysis Report The Mosaic Company (MOS): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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