Investors focused on the Basic Materials space have likely heard of Newmont Mining (NEM Quick QuoteNEM - 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.

Newmont Mining is a member of our Basic Materials group, which includes 246 different companies and currently sits at #14 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank gauges the strength of our 16 individual sector groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups.

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

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for NEM's full-year earnings has moved 1.84% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

Our latest available data shows that NEM has returned about 9.18% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Basic Materials group have gained about 5.44% on average. This means that Newmont Mining is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Looking more specifically, NEM belongs to the Mining - Gold industry, a group that includes 35 individual stocks and currently sits at #18 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 38.25% so far this year, so NEM 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 NEM as it attempts to continue its solid performance.