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 AngloGold Ashanti (AU) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

AngloGold Ashanti is one of 235 companies in the Basic Materials group. The Basic Materials group currently sits at #15 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 is a successful stock-picking model that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions. The system highlights a number of different stocks that could be poised to outperform the broader market over the next one to three months. AngloGold Ashanti is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AU's full-year earnings has moved 12.7% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Based on the latest available data, AU has gained about 40.3% so far this year. At the same time, Basic Materials stocks have gained an average of 1.3%. As we can see, AngloGold Ashanti is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

One other Basic Materials stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Centamin (CELTF). The stock is up 52.8% year-to-date.

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).

Breaking things down more, AngloGold Ashanti is a member of the Mining - Gold industry, which includes 38 individual companies and currently sits at #89 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 25.4% so far this year, meaning that AU is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, Centamin falls under the Mining - Miscellaneous industry. Currently, this industry has 60 stocks and is ranked #204. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved -7.9%.

AngloGold Ashanti and Centamin could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Basic Materials stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.

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