Are Basic Materials Stocks Lagging Nexa Resources (NEXA) This Year?

Investors interested in Basic Materials stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Is Nexa Resources S.A. (NEXA) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.Nexa Resources S.A. is one of 248 individual stocks in the Basic Materials sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #3 in the Zacks Sector Rank. 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. Nexa Resources S.A. is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for NEXA's full-year earnings has moved 66.6% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.Our latest available data shows that NEXA has returned about 45.2% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Basic Materials group have gained about 10.1% on average. This shows that Nexa Resources S.A. is outperforming its peers so far this year.Another Basic Materials stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Norsk Hydro ASA (NHYDY). The stock has returned 14.9% year-to-date.In Norsk Hydro ASA's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 56.6% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).Looking more specifically, Nexa Resources S.A. belongs to the Mining - Miscellaneous industry, which includes 72 individual stocks and currently sits at #109 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 14.7% so far this year, so NEXA is performing better in this area. Norsk Hydro ASA is also part of the same industry.Investors interested in the Basic Materials sector may want to keep a close eye on Nexa Resources S.A. and Norsk Hydro ASA as they attempt to continue 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