For those looking to find strong Basic Materials stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Is Alamos Gold (AGI) one of those stocks right now? 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.

Alamos Gold is a member of our Basic Materials group, which includes 236 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 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. Alamos Gold is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AGI's full-year earnings has moved 6.3% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

According to our latest data, AGI has moved about 51.7% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, the Basic Materials sector has returned an average of -3.7% on a year-to-date basis. This shows that Alamos Gold is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Another stock in the Basic Materials sector, Centamin (CELTF), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 64.7%.

For Centamin, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 66.7% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, Alamos Gold belongs to the Mining - Gold industry, a group that includes 37 individual companies and currently sits at #138 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 27.1% so far this year, so AGI is performing better in this area.

On the other hand, Centamin belongs to the Mining - Miscellaneous industry. This 59-stock industry is currently ranked #176. The industry has moved -17.3% year to date.

Going forward, investors interested in Basic Materials stocks should continue to pay close attention to Alamos Gold and Centamin as they could maintain their solid performance.

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