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Are Basic Materials Stocks Lagging Commercial Metals (CMC) This Year?

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Investors interested in Basic Materials stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Has Commercial Metals (CMC - 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.

Commercial Metals is a member of our Basic Materials group, which includes 242 different companies and currently sits at #16 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. Commercial Metals is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CMC's full-year earnings has moved 12.9% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

According to our latest data, CMC has moved about 32.2% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, the Basic Materials sector has returned an average of -1% on a year-to-date basis. This shows that Commercial Metals is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Another Basic Materials stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Steel Dynamics (STLD - Free Report) . The stock has returned 74.7% year-to-date.

Over the past three months, Steel Dynamics' consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 2.7%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Commercial Metals belongs to the Steel - Producers industry, which includes 24 individual stocks and currently sits at #188 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 5.3% this year, meaning that CMC is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns. Steel Dynamics is also part of the same industry.

Going forward, investors interested in Basic Materials stocks should continue to pay close attention to Commercial Metals and Steel Dynamics as they could maintain their solid performance.


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