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Is Barrick Gold (GOLD) Stock Outpacing Its Basic Materials Peers This Year?

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For those looking to find strong Basic Materials stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Barrick Gold (GOLD - Free Report) 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? One simple way to answer this question is to take a look at the year-to-date performance of GOLD and the rest of the Basic Materials group's stocks.

Barrick Gold is a member of the Basic Materials sector. This group includes 248 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #9. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different groups, measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the sector to gauge the strength of each group.

The Zacks Rank is a successful stock-picking model that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions. The system highlights a number of different stocks that could be poised to outperform the broader market over the next one to three months. GOLD is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for GOLD's full-year earnings has moved 9.38% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the latest available data, GOLD has gained about 18.98% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Basic Materials sector has returned an average of 13.82% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, Barrick Gold is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Breaking things down more, GOLD is a member of the Mining - Gold industry, which includes 32 individual companies and currently sits at #28 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 32.02% so far this year, meaning that GOLD is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.

Investors with an interest in Basic Materials stocks should continue to track GOLD. The stock will be looking to continue its solid performance.


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