For those looking to find strong Basic Materials stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Has Klabin SA (KLBAY) been one of those stocks this year? 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.

Klabin SA is one of 234 companies in the Basic Materials group. The Basic Materials group currently sits at #10 within 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 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. Klabin SA is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for KLBAY's full-year earnings has moved 22% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Based on the latest available data, KLBAY has gained about 3.4% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Basic Materials group have lost about 7.6% on average. This means that Klabin SA is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

One other Basic Materials stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is NexGen Energy (NXE). The stock is up 1.8% year-to-date.

The consensus estimate for NexGen Energy's current year EPS has increased 23.8% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, Klabin SA belongs to the Paper and Related Products industry, a group that includes 11 individual companies and currently sits at #37 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 42.9% so far this year, so KLBAY is slightly underperforming its industry in this area.

In contrast, NexGen Energy falls under the Mining - Miscellaneous industry. Currently, this industry has 60 stocks and is ranked #135. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved -19.6%.

Going forward, investors interested in Basic Materials stocks should continue to pay close attention to Klabin SA and NexGen Energy as they could maintain their solid performance.

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