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Is Rio Tinto (RIO) Outperforming Other Basic Materials Stocks This Year?

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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 Rio Tinto (RIO - 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.

Rio Tinto is one of 251 companies in the Basic Materials group. The Basic Materials group currently sits at #8 within the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank includes 16 different groups and is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors.

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

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for RIO's full-year earnings has moved 18.87% higher within the past quarter. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Our latest available data shows that RIO has returned about 16.06% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Basic Materials sector has returned an average of 14.92% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Rio Tinto is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Looking more specifically, RIO belongs to the Mining - Miscellaneous industry, which includes 47 individual stocks and currently sits at #197 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 18.49% so far this year, so RIO is slightly underperforming its industry this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

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


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