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Is American Vanguard (AVD) Outperforming Other Basic Materials Stocks 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 American Vanguard (AVD - Free Report) one of those stocks right now? 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.

American Vanguard is one of 241 companies in the Basic Materials group. The Basic Materials group currently sits at #5 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. American Vanguard is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AVD's full-year earnings has moved 16.7% 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, AVD has moved about 25.4% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, stocks in the Basic Materials group have lost about 12% on average. As we can see, American Vanguard is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Innospec (IOSP - Free Report) is another Basic Materials stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 1%.

In Innospec's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 9.6% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, American Vanguard belongs to the Chemical - Specialty industry, a group that includes 33 individual companies and currently sits at #81 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has lost an average of 25.6% so far this year, meaning that AVD is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

Innospec, however, belongs to the Chemical - Diversified industry. Currently, this 38-stock industry is ranked #96. The industry has moved -17.3% so far this year.

American Vanguard and Innospec could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Basic Materials stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.


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