The Basic Materials group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Gold Fields (GFI) 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.
Gold Fields is a member of our Basic Materials group, which includes 254 different companies and currently sits at #5 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. Gold Fields is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for GFI's full-year earnings has moved 12.6% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.
According to our latest data, GFI has moved about 20.3% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, the Basic Materials sector has returned an average of 18% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, Gold Fields is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.
Another Basic Materials stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Allied Gold Corporation (AAUC). The stock has returned 37.8% year-to-date.
Over the past three months, Allied Gold Corporation's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 48.3%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
To break things down more, Gold Fields belongs to the Mining - Gold industry, a group that includes 43 individual companies and currently sits at #52 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 15% this year, meaning that GFI is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns. Allied Gold Corporation is also part of the same industry.
Going forward, investors interested in Basic Materials stocks should continue to pay close attention to Gold Fields and Allied Gold Corporation as they could maintain their solid performance.
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Gold Fields Limited (GFI): Free Stock Analysis Report Allied Gold Corporation (AAUC): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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