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Is Nucor (NUE) Stock Outpacing Its Basic Materials Peers 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. Nucor (NUE - 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? 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.

Nucor is a member of our Basic Materials group, which includes 245 different companies and currently sits at #8 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 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. NUE is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for NUE's full-year earnings has moved 180.64% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Our latest available data shows that NUE has returned about 85.67% since the start of the calendar year. At the same time, Basic Materials stocks have gained an average of 27.30%. As we can see, Nucor is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

To break things down more, NUE belongs to the Steel - Producers industry, a group that includes 24 individual companies and currently sits at #31 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 56.69% this year, meaning that NUE is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

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


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