The Basic Materials group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Is Allegheny Technologies (ATI) one of those stocks right now? 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.
Allegheny Technologies is one of 232 companies in the Basic Materials group. The Basic Materials group currently sits at #5 within 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 emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find stocks with improving earnings outlooks. This system has a long record of success, and these stocks tend to be on track to beat the market over the next one to three months. Allegheny Technologies is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ATI's full-year earnings has moved 4% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.
Our latest available data shows that ATI has returned about 36.5% since the start of the calendar year. At the same time, Basic Materials stocks have gained an average of 5.5%. As we can see, Allegheny Technologies is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.
Another stock in the Basic Materials sector, Brenntag AG (BNTGY), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 12.4%.
Over the past three months, Brenntag AG's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 13.6%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, Allegheny Technologies belongs to the Steel - Speciality industry, which includes 5 individual stocks and currently sits at #50 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 28.3% so far this year, so ATI is performing better in this area.
In contrast, Brenntag AG falls under the Chemical - Diversified industry. Currently, this industry has 28 stocks and is ranked #185. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved -17.1%.
Allegheny Technologies and Brenntag AG 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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ATI Inc. (ATI): Free Stock Analysis Report Brenntag AG (BNTGY): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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