The Basic Materials group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Has Carpenter Technology (CRS) 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.

Carpenter Technology is a member of our Basic Materials group, which includes 232 different companies and currently sits at #6 in 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 is a proven system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. Carpenter Technology is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for CRS' full-year earnings has moved 6.3% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

According to our latest data, CRS has moved about 16.3% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, the Basic Materials sector has returned an average of 4.5% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, Carpenter Technology is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Another stock in the Basic Materials sector, MAG Silver (MAG), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 13.4%.

For MAG Silver, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 5.5% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, Carpenter Technology belongs to the Steel - Speciality industry, a group that includes 5 individual companies and currently sits at #173 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 4.4% so far this year, so CRS is performing better in this area.

On the other hand, MAG Silver belongs to the Mining - Silver industry. This 9-stock industry is currently ranked #9. The industry has moved +15.7% year to date.

Carpenter Technology and MAG Silver 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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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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