Are Basic Materials Stocks Lagging Glencore (GLNCY) This Year?

Investors interested in Basic Materials stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Is Glencore PLC (GLNCY) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.Glencore PLC is one of 248 individual stocks in the Basic Materials sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #10 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank includes 16 different groups and is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors.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. Glencore PLC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).The Zacks Consensus Estimate for GLNCY's full-year earnings has moved 19.9% higher within the past quarter. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.Based on the latest available data, GLNCY has gained about 43.6% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Basic Materials sector has returned an average of 16.4% on a year-to-date basis. This shows that Glencore PLC is outperforming its peers so far this year.Minerals Technologies (MTX) is another Basic Materials stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 28.2%.Over the past three months, Minerals Technologies' consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 1.3%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).Breaking things down more, Glencore PLC is a member of the Mining - Miscellaneous industry, which includes 72 individual companies and currently sits at #175 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 27.4% this year, meaning that GLNCY is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns. Minerals Technologies, however, belongs to the Chemical - Specialty industry. Currently, this 44-stock industry is ranked #99. The industry has moved +10.6% so far this year.Going forward, investors interested in Basic Materials stocks should continue to pay close attention to Glencore PLC and Minerals Technologies as they could maintain their solid performance.Beyond Nvidia: AI's Second Wave Is HereThe AI revolution has already minted millionaires. But the stocks everyone knows about aren't likely to keep delivering the biggest profits. AI’s second wave is moving from infrastructure to implementation and these companies are at the forefront of this transition, positioned to become what Amazon and Google were to the internet era.See Stocks Now >>This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks