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Is FreeportMcMoRan (FCX) Stock Outpacing Its Basic Materials Peers 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. Freeport-McMoRan (FCX - Free Report) is a stock that can certainly grab the attention of many investors, but do its recent returns compare favorably to the sector as a whole? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Freeport-McMoRan is a member of the Basic Materials sector. This group includes 239 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #3. 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 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. Freeport-McMoRan is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for FCX's full-year earnings has moved 4.8% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Our latest available data shows that FCX has returned about 18.6% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Basic Materials sector has returned an average of 4.8% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Freeport-McMoRan is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

Gerdau (GGB - 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 15.3%.

In Gerdau's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 15.5% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Freeport-McMoRan belongs to the Mining - Non Ferrous industry, a group that includes 13 individual stocks and currently sits at #42 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 36% so far this year, so FCX is slightly underperforming its industry this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

Gerdau, however, belongs to the Steel - Producers industry. Currently, this 22-stock industry is ranked #10. The industry has moved +16.1% so far this year.

Investors with an interest in Basic Materials stocks should continue to track Freeport-McMoRan and Gerdau. These stocks will be looking to continue their solid performance.


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