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Has Veritiv (VRTV) Outpaced Other Basic Materials Stocks This Year?

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Investors focused on the Basic Materials space have likely heard of Veritiv , but is the stock performing well in comparison to the rest of its sector peers? 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.

Veritiv is one of 240 individual stocks in the Basic Materials sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #3 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank gauges the strength of our 16 individual sector groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups.

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. VRTV is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for VRTV's full-year earnings has moved 38.46% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

Our latest available data shows that VRTV has returned about 90.04% since the start of the calendar year. At the same time, Basic Materials stocks have gained an average of 8.30%. As we can see, Veritiv is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Looking more specifically, VRTV belongs to the Paper and Related Products industry, which includes 14 individual stocks and currently sits at #110 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 14.58% so far this year, so VRTV is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

Going forward, investors interested in Basic Materials stocks should continue to pay close attention to VRTV as it looks to continue its solid performance.

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