Investors focused on the Basic Materials space have likely heard of Pan American Silver (PAAS Quick QuotePAAS - 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.

Pan American Silver is a member of our Basic Materials group, which includes 239 different companies and currently sits at #5 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 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. PAAS is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for PAAS's full-year earnings has moved 4.11% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Our latest available data shows that PAAS has returned about 3.42% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Basic Materials group have lost about 17.64% on average. This means that Pan American Silver is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Looking more specifically, PAAS belongs to the Mining - Silver industry, which includes 11 individual stocks and currently sits at #75 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has lost an average of 27.33% so far this year, meaning that PAAS is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

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