Investors focused on the Basic Materials space have likely heard of Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM Quick QuoteAEM - Free Report) , but is the stock performing well in comparison to the rest of its sector peers? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Agnico Eagle Mines is a member of our Basic Materials group, which includes 248 different companies and currently sits at #11 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 is a successful stock-picking model that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions. The system highlights a number of different stocks that could be poised to outperform the broader market over the next one to three months. AEM is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AEM's full-year earnings has moved 47.06% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Based on the most recent data, AEM has returned 47.53% so far this year. In comparison, Basic Materials companies have returned an average of 4.93%. This shows that Agnico Eagle Mines is outperforming its peers so far this year.

To break things down more, AEM belongs to the Mining - Gold industry, a group that includes 32 individual companies and currently sits at #15 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 45% so far this year, so AEM 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 AEM as it looks to continue its solid performance.