For those looking to find strong Basic Materials stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Has Hecla Mining (HL Quick QuoteHL - 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.

Hecla Mining is one of 236 companies in the Basic Materials group. The Basic Materials group currently sits at #4 within 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 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. HL is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for HL's full-year earnings has moved 233.33% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

According to our latest data, HL has moved about 83.78% on a year-to-date basis. At the same time, Basic Materials stocks have gained an average of 2.50%. This shows that Hecla Mining is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Looking more specifically, HL belongs to the Mining - Silver industry, which includes 11 individual stocks and currently sits at #124 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 27.96% this year, meaning that HL is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

HL will likely be looking to continue its solid performance, so investors interested in Basic Materials stocks should continue to pay close attention to the company.