For those looking to find strong Basic Materials stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Allegheny Technologies (ATI) 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.

Allegheny Technologies is one of 232 companies in the Basic Materials group. The Basic Materials group currently sits at #3 within 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 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. Allegheny Technologies is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ATI's full-year earnings has moved 3% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the latest available data, ATI has gained about 25% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Basic Materials group have gained about 4.8% on average. This means that Allegheny Technologies is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

Another Basic Materials stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Brenntag AG (BNTGY). The stock has returned 12.5% year-to-date.

In Brenntag AG's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 6.1% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

To break things down more, Allegheny Technologies belongs to the Steel - Speciality industry, a group that includes 5 individual companies and currently sits at #55 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 18.7% so far this year, so ATI is performing better in this area.

Brenntag AG, however, belongs to the Chemical - Diversified industry. Currently, this 28-stock industry is ranked #190. The industry has moved -18.3% so far this year.

Allegheny Technologies and Brenntag AG could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Basic Materials stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.

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ATI Inc. (ATI):Free Stock Analysis Report

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

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