Investors interested in Basic Materials stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Is BHP Billiton (BBL) 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.
BHP Billiton is a member of our Basic Materials group, which includes 245 different companies and currently sits at #2 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank includes 16 different groups and is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors.
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. BBL is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).
Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for BBL’s full-year earnings has moved 13.27% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock’s earnings outlook is more positive.
According to our latest data, BBL has moved about 17.42% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, stocks in the Basic Materials group have gained about 15.77% on average. As we can see, BHP Billiton is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.
Looking more specifically, BBL belongs to the Mining – Miscellaneous industry, which includes 46 individual stocks and currently sits at #85 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 25.64% so far this year, so BBL is slightly underperforming its industry in this area.
Going forward, investors interested in Basic Materials stocks should continue to pay close attention to BBL as it looks to continue its solid performance.
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