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Is Bunge Limited (BG) 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. Has Bunge (BG - Free Report) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Bunge is one of 242 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. Bunge is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for BG's full-year earnings has moved 18.3% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

According to our latest data, BG has moved about 0.9% on a year-to-date basis. At the same time, Basic Materials stocks have lost an average of 12.5%. As we can see, Bunge is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Another Basic Materials stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Commercial Metals (CMC - Free Report) . The stock has returned 0.7% year-to-date.

For Commercial Metals, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 8.2% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

To break things down more, Bunge belongs to the Agriculture - Products industry, a group that includes 7 individual companies and currently sits at #64 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 0.4% so far this year, so BG is performing better in this area.

On the other hand, Commercial Metals belongs to the Steel - Producers industry. This 24-stock industry is currently ranked #226. The industry has moved -3.2% year to date.

Investors interested in the Basic Materials sector may want to keep a close eye on Bunge and Commercial Metals as they attempt to continue their solid performance.


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