For those looking to find strong Basic Materials stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Is Arconic one of those stocks right now? By taking a look at the stock's year-to-date performance in comparison to its Basic Materials peers, we might be able to answer that question.

Arconic is a member of our Basic Materials group, which includes 246 different companies and currently sits at #15 in 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 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. ARNC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ARNC's full-year earnings has moved 4.90% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

According to our latest data, ARNC has moved about 83.63% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, stocks in the Basic Materials group have gained about 10% on average. As we can see, Arconic is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Looking more specifically, ARNC belongs to the Mining - Non Ferrous industry, a group that includes 11 individual stocks and currently sits at #69 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 28.94% so far this year, so ARNC is performing better in this area.

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