Is Yamana Gold (AUY) Outperforming Other Basic Materials Stocks This Year?

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The Basic Materials group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Yamana Gold (AUY) 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? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Yamana Gold is one of 238 companies in the Basic Materials group. The Basic Materials group currently sits at #9 within the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different sector groups. The average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups is measured, and the sectors are listed from best to worst.

The Zacks Rank is a proven model that highlights a variety of stocks with the right characteristics to outperform the market over the next one to three months. The system emphasizes earnings estimate revisions and favors companies with improving earnings outlooks. Yamana Gold is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AUY's full-year earnings has moved 17.4% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

According to our latest data, AUY has moved about 10.8% on a year-to-date basis. In comparison, Basic Materials companies have returned an average of 6.5%. This means that Yamana Gold is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

One other Basic Materials stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Olympic Steel (ZEUS). The stock is up 27.8% year-to-date.

For Olympic Steel, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 46.1% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

To break things down more, Yamana Gold belongs to the Mining - Gold industry, a group that includes 39 individual companies and currently sits at #84 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 14% so far this year, so AUY is slightly underperforming its industry in this area.

On the other hand, Olympic Steel belongs to the Steel - Producers industry. This 22-stock industry is currently ranked #18. The industry has moved +22.9% year to date.

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

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