Investors focused on the Basic Materials space have likely heard of United States Steel (X Quick QuoteX - Free Report) , but is the stock performing well in comparison to the rest of its sector peers? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

United States Steel is one of 239 companies in the Basic Materials group. The Basic Materials group currently sits at #5 within 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. X is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for X's full-year earnings has moved 186.58% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

According to our latest data, X has moved about 5.90% on a year-to-date basis. In comparison, Basic Materials companies have returned an average of 1.71%. As we can see, United States Steel is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Breaking things down more, X is a member of the Steel - Producers industry, which includes 24 individual companies and currently sits at #62 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have lost 5.19% this year, meaning that X is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

Investors in the Basic Materials sector will want to keep a close eye on X as it attempts to continue its solid performance.