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Is Verso (VRS) 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 Verso one of those stocks right now? 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.

Verso is one of 247 companies in the Basic Materials group. The Basic Materials group currently sits at #15 within 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. VRS is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for VRS's full-year earnings has moved 215.31% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

According to our latest data, VRS has moved about 66.25% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, the Basic Materials sector has returned an average of -12.83% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Verso is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

To break things down more, VRS belongs to the Paper and Related Products industry, a group that includes 18 individual companies and currently sits at #33 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has lost an average of 8% so far this year, meaning that VRS is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

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

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