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Is Nucor (NUE) Stock Outpacing Its Basic Materials Peers This Year?

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Investors interested in Basic Materials stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Is Nucor (NUE - Free Report) one of those stocks right now? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Basic Materials sector should help us answer this question.

Nucor is a member of our Basic Materials group, which includes 245 different companies and currently sits at #7 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 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. NUE is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NUE's full-year earnings has moved 148.36% 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 NUE has returned about 88.10% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Basic Materials sector has returned an average of 22.63% on a year-to-date basis. This shows that Nucor is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Looking more specifically, NUE belongs to the Steel - Producers industry, which includes 24 individual stocks and currently sits at #24 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 45.08% this year, meaning that NUE is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

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


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