The Basic Materials group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Is Teck Resources Ltd (TECK) 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.

Teck Resources Ltd is a member of our Basic Materials group, which includes 279 different companies and currently sits at #15 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 emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find stocks with improving earnings outlooks. This system has a long record of success, and these stocks tend to be on track to beat the market over the next one to three months. Teck Resources Ltd is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for TECK's full-year earnings has moved 8.4% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Based on the latest available data, TECK has gained about 43.7% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Basic Materials group have gained about 21.3% on average. This means that Teck Resources Ltd is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Another stock in the Basic Materials sector, Trekor Metals (TGB), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 48.4%.

Over the past three months, Trekor Metals' consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 21.4%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, Teck Resources Ltd belongs to the Mining – Miscellaneous industry, a group that includes 89 individual companies and currently sits at #192 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 31% so far this year, so TECK is performing better in this area. Trekor Metals is also part of the same industry.

Going forward, investors interested in Basic Materials stocks should continue to pay close attention to Teck Resources Ltd and Trekor Metals as they could maintain their solid performance.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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