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Is Nucor (NUE) 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. Has Nucor (NUE - Free Report) been one of those stocks this year? By taking a look at the stock's year-to-date performance in comparison to its Basic Materials peers, we might be able to answer that question.

Nucor is one of 238 individual stocks in the Basic Materials sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #14 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 emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find stocks with improving earnings outlooks. This system has a long record of success, and these stocks tend to be on track to beat the market over the next one to three months. Nucor is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for NUE's full-year earnings has moved 27.7% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

According to our latest data, NUE has moved about 17.2% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, the Basic Materials sector has returned an average of 6.6% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Nucor is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

Another Basic Materials stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Steel Dynamics (STLD - Free Report) . The stock has returned 15.7% year-to-date.

For Steel Dynamics, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 57.7% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

To break things down more, Nucor belongs to the Steel - Producers industry, a group that includes 24 individual companies and currently sits at #29 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 20.5% so far this year, so NUE is slightly underperforming its industry in this area. Steel Dynamics is also part of the same industry.

Nucor and Steel Dynamics 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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