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Is United States Steel (X) Stock Outpacing Its Basic Materials Peers This Year?

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The Basic Materials group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Is United States Steel (X - Free Report) one of those stocks right now? By taking a look at the stock's year-to-date performance in comparison to its Basic Materials peers, we might be able to answer that question.

United States Steel is one of 245 individual stocks in the Basic Materials sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #7 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 system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. X is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for X's full-year earnings has moved 326.35% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

According to our latest data, X has moved about 55.52% on a year-to-date basis. In comparison, Basic Materials companies have returned an average of 25.39%. This means that United States Steel is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

To break things down more, X belongs to the Steel - Producers industry, a group that includes 24 individual companies and currently sits at #22 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 49.88% so far this year, so X is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

X will likely be looking to continue its solid performance, so investors interested in Basic Materials stocks should continue to pay close attention to the company.


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