Is Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM) Stock Outpacing Its Basic Materials Peers This Year?

The Basic Materials group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM) is a stock that can certainly grab the attention of many investors, but do its recent returns compare favorably to the sector as a whole? 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.Agnico Eagle Mines is one of 241 individual stocks in the Basic Materials sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #13 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 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. Agnico Eagle Mines is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AEM's full-year earnings has moved 10.3% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.Our latest available data shows that AEM has returned about 134.3% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Basic Materials group have gained about 34.1% on average. This means that Agnico Eagle Mines is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.Another stock in the Basic Materials sector, Gold Fields (GFI), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 252.7%.Over the past three months, Gold Fields' consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 15.6%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).Looking more specifically, Agnico Eagle Mines belongs to the Mining - Gold industry, which includes 41 individual stocks and currently sits at #54 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 162.3% this year, meaning that AEM is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns. Gold Fields is also part of the same industry.Investors with an interest in Basic Materials stocks should continue to track Agnico Eagle Mines and Gold Fields. These stocks will be looking to continue their solid performance.Radical New Technology Could Hand Investors Huge GainsQuantum Computing is the next technological revolution, and it could be even more advanced than AI.While some believed the technology was years away, it is already present and moving fast. Large hyperscalers, such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Oracle, and even Meta and Tesla, are scrambling to integrate quantum computing into their infrastructure.Senior Stock Strategist Kevin Cook reveals 7 carefully selected stocks poised to dominate the quantum computing landscape in his report, Beyond AI: The Quantum Leap in Computing Power.Kevin was among the early experts who recognized NVIDIA's enormous potential back in 2016. Now, he has keyed in on what could be "the next big thing" in quantum computing supremacy. Today, you have a rare chance to position your portfolio at the forefront of this opportunity.See Top Quantum Stocks Now >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (AEM): Free Stock Analysis Report Gold Fields Limited (GFI): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks