For those looking to find strong Basic Materials stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Is United States Steel (NYSE:X) 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.
United States Steel is a member of the Basic Materials sector. This group includes 252 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #11. 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. X is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for X's full-year earnings has moved 21.15% higher within the past quarter. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.
Our latest available data shows that X has returned about 33.81% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Basic Materials group have gained about 4.06% on average. As we can see, United States Steel is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.
To break things down more, X belongs to the Steel - Producers industry, a group that includes 24 individual companies and currently sits at #41 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 34.30% so far this year, meaning that X is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.
Investors in the Basic Materials sector will want to keep a close eye on X as it attempts to continue its solid performance.
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United States Steel Corporation (X): Free Stock Analysis Report
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