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Is Aperam (APEMY) 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. Is Aperam (APEMY - Free Report) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Aperam is a member of our Basic Materials group, which includes 275 different companies and currently sits at #13 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 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. Aperam is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for APEMY's full-year earnings has moved 41% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

According to our latest data, APEMY has moved about 20.1% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, stocks in the Basic Materials group have gained about 6.9% on average. This means that Aperam is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Another Basic Materials stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Gerdau (GGB - Free Report) . The stock has returned 30.1% year-to-date.

In Gerdau's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 5.3% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Aperam belongs to the Steel - Producers industry, a group that includes 17 individual stocks and currently sits at #40 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 32.8% this year, meaning that APEMY is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns. Gerdau is also part of the same industry.

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

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