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Is Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF) 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 Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF - Free Report) been one of those stocks this year? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Basic Materials sector should help us answer this question.

Cleveland-Cliffs is one of 242 individual stocks in the Basic Materials sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #3 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different groups, measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the sector to gauge the strength of each group.

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. CLF is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for CLF's full-year earnings has moved 48.82% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

Based on the latest available data, CLF has gained about 24.13% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Basic Materials sector has returned an average of 1.75% on a year-to-date basis. This shows that Cleveland-Cliffs is outperforming its peers so far this year.

To break things down more, CLF belongs to the Mining - Miscellaneous industry, a group that includes 33 individual companies and currently sits at #106 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 10.91% so far this year, so CLF is performing better in this area.

Going forward, investors interested in Basic Materials stocks should continue to pay close attention to CLF as it looks to continue its solid performance.


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