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Is Veritiv (VRTV) Outperforming Other Basic Materials Stocks 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 Veritiv been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Veritiv is a member of the Basic Materials sector. This group includes 240 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #3. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different sector groups. The average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups is measured, and the sectors are listed from best to worst.

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. VRTV is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for VRTV's full-year earnings has moved 1.31% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Based on the latest available data, VRTV has gained about 34.95% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Basic Materials sector has returned an average of -4.66% on a year-to-date basis. This shows that Veritiv is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Breaking things down more, VRTV is a member of the Paper and Related Products industry, which includes 19 individual companies and currently sits at #30 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 0.45% so far this year, so VRTV is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

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