Investors interested in Basic Materials stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Has Equinox Gold (EQX) 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.
Equinox Gold is a member of the Basic Materials sector. This group includes 232 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #8. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different sector groups. The average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups is measured, and the sectors are listed from best to worst.
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. Equinox Gold is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for EQX's full-year earnings has moved 3.4% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.
Based on the latest available data, EQX has gained about 35.5% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Basic Materials sector has returned an average of 4.7% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Equinox Gold is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.
B2Gold (BTG) is another Basic Materials stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 29.1%.
Over the past three months, B2Gold's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 8.7%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, Equinox Gold belongs to the Mining - Gold industry, which includes 39 individual stocks and currently sits at #72 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 49.1% so far this year, so EQX is slightly underperforming its industry this group in terms of year-to-date returns. B2Gold is also part of the same industry.
Going forward, investors interested in Basic Materials stocks should continue to pay close attention to Equinox Gold and B2Gold as they could maintain their solid performance.
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Equinox Gold Corp. (EQX): Free Stock Analysis Report B2Gold Corp (BTG): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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