Investors interested in Basic Materials stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Has ICL Group (ICL) 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.

ICL Group is a member of our Basic Materials group, which includes 232 different companies and currently sits at #15 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank gauges the strength of our 16 individual sector groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups.

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. ICL Group is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ICL's full-year earnings has moved 1.6% 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, ICL has gained about 21.1% so far this year. In comparison, Basic Materials companies have returned an average of 6.9%. This means that ICL Group is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

Orla Mining Ltd. (ORLA) is another Basic Materials stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 32%.

The consensus estimate for Orla Mining Ltd.'s current year EPS has increased 74.9% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, ICL Group belongs to the Fertilizers industry, a group that includes 8 individual stocks and currently sits at #65 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 7.6% so far this year, so ICL is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, Orla Mining Ltd. falls under the Mining - Gold industry. Currently, this industry has 40 stocks and is ranked #64. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +21.8%.

Investors interested in the Basic Materials sector may want to keep a close eye on ICL Group and Orla Mining Ltd. as they attempt to continue their solid performance.

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

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