The Basic Materials group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Aura Minerals (AUGO) 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.

Aura Minerals is one of 254 companies in the Basic Materials group. The Basic Materials group currently sits at #2 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 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. Aura Minerals is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AUGO's full-year earnings has moved 73.5% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Our latest available data shows that AUGO has returned about 67.5% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Basic Materials group have gained about 28% on average. As we can see, Aura Minerals is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM) is another Basic Materials stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 48.4%.

The consensus estimate for Agnico Eagle Mines' current year EPS has increased 41% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

To break things down more, Aura Minerals belongs to the Mining - Miscellaneous industry, a group that includes 73 individual companies and currently sits at #43 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 31.8% so far this year, so AUGO is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

Agnico Eagle Mines, however, belongs to the Mining - Gold industry. Currently, this 43-stock industry is ranked #22. The industry has moved +34.1% so far this year.

Going forward, investors interested in Basic Materials stocks should continue to pay close attention to Aura Minerals and Agnico Eagle Mines as they could maintain their solid performance.

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Aura Minerals Inc. (AUGO):Free Stock Analysis Report

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

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