Investors interested in Basic Materials stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Is Metals Acquisition Ltd (MTAL) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Metals Acquisition Ltd is a member of the Basic Materials sector. This group includes 235 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #12. 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 proven model that highlights a variety of stocks with the right characteristics to outperform the market over the next one to three months. The system emphasizes earnings estimate revisions and favors companies with improving earnings outlooks. Metals Acquisition Ltd is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for MTAL's full-year earnings has moved 206.5% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

According to our latest data, MTAL has moved about 2.8% on a year-to-date basis. In comparison, Basic Materials companies have returned an average of -3.8%. This means that Metals Acquisition Ltd 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 Silvercorp (SVM). The stock is up 50.2% year-to-date.

Over the past three months, Silvercorp's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 38%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Metals Acquisition Ltd belongs to the Mining - Non Ferrous industry, which includes 12 individual stocks and currently sits at #59 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 11.5% so far this year, so MTAL is slightly underperforming its industry this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

Silvercorp, however, belongs to the Mining - Miscellaneous industry. Currently, this 60-stock industry is ranked #180. The industry has moved -15.9% so far this year.

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

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