Is Gerdau (GGB) Stock Outpacing Its Basic Materials Peers This Year?

Investors interested in Basic Materials stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Gerdau (GGB) 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.Gerdau is a member of the Basic Materials sector. This group includes 249 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #8. 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 proven system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. Gerdau is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).The Zacks Consensus Estimate for GGB's full-year earnings has moved 9.3% higher within the past quarter. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.Based on the most recent data, GGB has returned 27.6% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Basic Materials group have gained about 16.7% on average. This shows that Gerdau is outperforming its peers so far this year.Materion (MTRN) is another Basic Materials stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 83%.Over the past three months, Materion's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 1.5%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).To break things down more, Gerdau belongs to the Steel - Producers industry, a group that includes 17 individual companies and currently sits at #64 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 47.9% so far this year, meaning that GGB is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns. Materion, however, belongs to the Mining - Miscellaneous industry. Currently, this 72-stock industry is ranked #161. The industry has moved +28.4% so far this year.Gerdau and Materion could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Basic Materials stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.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 >>This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks