Investors focused on the Basic Materials space have likely heard of Nutrien (NTR Quick QuoteNTR - 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.

Nutrien is one of 252 companies in the Basic Materials group. The Basic Materials group currently sits at #14 within 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. NTR is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NTR's full-year earnings has moved 23.01% higher within the past quarter. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

According to our latest data, NTR has moved about 42.26% on a year-to-date basis. At the same time, Basic Materials stocks have gained an average of 10.48%. This shows that Nutrien is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Looking more specifically, NTR belongs to the Fertilizers industry, which includes 7 individual stocks and currently sits at #7 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 39.01% this year, meaning that NTR 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 NTR as it looks to continue its solid performance.