Is Harmony Gold (HMY) Stock Outpacing Its Basic Materials Peers This Year?

Group 1 - Harmony Gold (HMY) has shown a year-to-date return of approximately 63.3%, significantly outperforming the Basic Materials sector, which has gained an average of 5.5% [4] - The Zacks Consensus Estimate for HMY's full-year earnings has increased by 16.7% over the past quarter, indicating improved analyst sentiment and earnings outlook [4] - Harmony Gold is ranked 1 (Strong Buy) in the Zacks Rank system, which focuses on earnings estimates and revisions [3] Group 2 - Harmony Gold is part of the Mining - Gold industry, which consists of 38 stocks and is currently ranked 31 in the Zacks Industry Rank [6] - The Mining - Gold industry has seen an average gain of about 29.3% year-to-date, with HMY outperforming this group [6] - In comparison, Cabot (CBT), another stock in the Basic Materials sector, has a year-to-date return of 35.8% and is part of the Chemical - Diversified industry, which is ranked 181 [5][6]