Is ICL Group Ltd. (ICL) Outperforming Other Basic Materials Stocks This Year?

CRS ICL

For those looking to find strong Basic Materials stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Is ICL Group (ICL - 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.

ICL Group is a member of our Basic Materials group, which includes 241 different companies and currently sits at #2 in the Zacks Sector Rank. 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 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. ICL Group is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ICL's full-year earnings has moved 59.9% higher within the past quarter. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

Based on the latest available data, ICL has gained about 17.9% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Basic Materials sector has returned an average of 7.1% on a year-to-date basis. This means that ICL Group is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

Another stock in the Basic Materials sector, Carpenter Technology (CRS - Free Report) , has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 23.7%.

In Carpenter Technology's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 3.5% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, ICL Group belongs to the Chemical - Specialty industry, a group that includes 33 individual stocks and currently sits at #82 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have lost 15.1% this year, meaning that ICL is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, Carpenter Technology falls under the Steel - Speciality industry. Currently, this industry has 4 stocks and is ranked #5. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +38.8%.

Going forward, investors interested in Basic Materials stocks should continue to pay close attention to ICL Group and Carpenter Technology as they could maintain their solid performance.

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