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Is U.S. Silica Holdings (SLCA) Outperforming Other Basic Materials Stocks This Year?

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Investors interested in Basic Materials stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Is Silica Holdings (SLCA - Free Report) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Silica Holdings is one of 242 companies in the Basic Materials group. The Basic Materials group currently sits at #13 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 is a proven model that highlights a variety of stocks with the right characteristics to outperform the market over the next one to three months. The system emphasizes earnings estimate revisions and favors companies with improving earnings outlooks. Silica Holdings is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for SLCA's full-year earnings has moved 4.8% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

According to our latest data, SLCA has moved about 30.2% on a year-to-date basis. In comparison, Basic Materials companies have returned an average of -0.9%. This means that Silica Holdings is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

One other Basic Materials stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Olympic Steel (ZEUS - Free Report) . The stock is up 41.7% year-to-date.

Over the past three months, Olympic Steel's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 4.5%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Looking more specifically, Silica Holdings belongs to the Mining - Miscellaneous industry, a group that includes 50 individual stocks and currently sits at #137 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 1.9% so far this year, meaning that SLCA is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, Olympic Steel falls under the Steel - Producers industry. Currently, this industry has 24 stocks and is ranked #193. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +4.9%.

Silica Holdings and Olympic Steel 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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