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Has Bunge Limited (BG) Outpaced Other Basic Materials Stocks This Year?

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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 Bunge (BG - 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.

Bunge is a member of the Basic Materials sector. This group includes 243 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #16. 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 successful stock-picking model that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions. The system highlights a number of different stocks that could be poised to outperform the broader market over the next one to three months. Bunge is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for BG's full-year earnings has moved 9.7% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Based on the most recent data, BG has returned 8.7% so far this year. In comparison, Basic Materials companies have returned an average of -1.4%. This means that Bunge is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

SQM (SQM - Free Report) is another Basic Materials stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 120.2%.

For SQM, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 4% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

To break things down more, Bunge belongs to the Agriculture - Products industry, a group that includes 7 individual companies and currently sits at #34 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has lost an average of 3.3% so far this year, meaning that BG is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, SQM belongs to the Fertilizers industry. This 7-stock industry is currently ranked #211. The industry has moved +28.1% year to date.

Going forward, investors interested in Basic Materials stocks should continue to pay close attention to Bunge and SQM as they could maintain their solid performance.


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