The Basic Materials group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Is Nutrien (NTR Quick QuoteNTR - 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.

Nutrien is a member of our Basic Materials group, which includes 251 different companies and currently sits at #4 in 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 system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. NTR is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for NTR's full-year earnings has moved 39.45% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the most recent data, NTR has returned 20.56% so far this year. In comparison, Basic Materials companies have returned an average of 6.58%. This means that Nutrien is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

To break things down more, NTR belongs to the Fertilizers industry, a group that includes 7 individual companies and currently sits at #21 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 10.33% so far this year, meaning that NTR is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

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