Investors interested in Basic Materials stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. 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 #4 within 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 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. AU is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AU’s full-year earnings has moved 5.43% higher within the past quarter. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock’s earnings outlook is improving.

Based on the latest available data, AU has gained about 30.75% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Basic Materials group have gained about 2.38% on average. This means that AngloGold Ashanti is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

To break things down more, AU belongs to the Mining – Gold industry, a group that includes 31 individual companies and currently sits at #64 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 47.47% this year, meaning that AU is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.

Investors in the Basic Materials sector will want to keep a close eye on AU as it attempts to continue its solid performance.

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