Investors interested in Basic Materials stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Has The Mosaic (MOS Quick QuoteMOS - Free Report) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

The Mosaic is one of 241 companies in the Basic Materials group. The Basic Materials group currently sits at #13 within the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank includes 16 different groups and is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors.

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

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for MOS's full-year earnings has moved 1.28% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Based on the most recent data, MOS has returned 13.56% so far this year. At the same time, Basic Materials stocks have gained an average of 12.07%. This shows that The Mosaic is outperforming its peers so far this year.

To break things down more, MOS belongs to the Fertilizers industry, a group that includes 7 individual companies and currently sits at #43 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 13.74% so far this year, so MOS is slightly underperforming its industry this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

Investors in the Basic Materials sector will want to keep a close eye on MOS as it attempts to continue its solid performance.