Materials in 2026 remain tied to manufacturing trends, construction demand, and commodity balances. Industrial stabilization can help the group quickly; weaker global growth pressures both volumes and pricing.
Led by materials leaders Linde, Sherwin-Williams, and Freeport-McMoRan, the sector tracks global industrial cycles. This dashboard tracks valuation trends, equal-weight performance, and sector component data across all 400+ chemical and mining stocks.
Sector Market Cap
$1.11T
Tracks 266 stocks · top 50 by market cap
Median YTD Return
+8.2%
Screener universe · median stock return
Median P/E
22.7x
Screener stocks · excludes outliers
Median Dividend Yield
1.17%
Screener stocks · excludes zeros
Sector Screener
Scan the sector leaders, compare valuations and fundamentals, then open the full screener to refine your criteria.
| Ticker | Company | Price | Mkt Cap | P/E | ROE | Div Yield | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linde plc | $489.80 | $226.58B | 33.6 | 17.4% | 1.2% | ||
| BHP Group Limited | $87.00 | $221.02B | 24.4 | 17.8% | 2.9% | ||
| Southern Copper Corporation | $204.17 | $170.35B | 39.0 | 42.6% | 1.5% | ||
| Rio Tinto Group | $95.91 | $155.86B | 15.7 | 16% | 3.9% | ||
| Newmont Corporation | $116.39 | $122.64B | 18.2 | 22.1% | 0.9% | ||
| Freeport-McMoRan Inc. | $72.62 | $104.4B | 47.8 | 7.4% | 0.8% | ||
| Agnico Eagle Mines Limited | $186.09 | $94.23B | 21.0 | 19.6% | 0.8% | ||
| Ecolab Inc. | $280.85 | $79.04B | 38.6 | 22.3% | 0.9% | ||
| The Sherwin-Williams Company | $321.56 | $78.06B | 31.3 | 59.4% | 1% | ||
| Barrick Mining Corporation | $40.76 | $68.29B | 13.7 | 14.5% | 1.3% | ||
| Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. | $280.74 | $62.52B | -158.6 | -2.2% | 2.5% | ||
| Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. | $137.62 | $62.5B | 41.8 | 18.8% | 0.5% | ||
| Vale S.A. | $14.10 | $60.13B | 24.3 | 7.2% | 5.9% | ||
| Nucor Corporation | $251.04 | $57.17B | 33.4 | 8% | 0.9% | ||
| CRH plc | $83.53 | $55.81B | 15.2 | 15.7% | 1.8% | ||
| ArcelorMittal S.A. | $65.24 | $49.65B | 15.9 | 5.8% | 0.8% | ||
| AngloGold Ashanti plc | $93.73 | $47.4B | 18.1 | 28.6% | 3.9% | ||
| Franco-Nevada Corporation | $244.00 | $47.06B | 41.6 | 16.3% | 0.6% | ||
| Steel Dynamics, Inc. | $238.21 | $34.35B | 29.8 | 13.3% | 0.8% | ||
| Nutrien Ltd. | $71.31 | $34.23B | 15.0 | 9.1% | 3.1% | ||
| Gold Fields Limited | $36.22 | $32.41B | 9.2 | 51% | 2.2% | ||
| Teck Resources Limited | $67.08 | $32.4B | 33.8 | 5.3% | 0.5% | ||
| Vulcan Materials Company | $248.67 | $32.27B | 30.6 | 13% | 0.8% | ||
| EIDP, Inc. | $47.34 | $31.99B | 29.6 | 4.6% | 100.1% | ||
| Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. | $489.34 | $29.38B | 26.0 | 11.7% | 0.7% | ||
| Kinross Gold Corporation | $23.82 | $28.45B | 12.0 | 31% | 0.5% | ||
| PPG Industries, Inc. | $106.55 | $23.69B | 15.4 | 92.2% | 2.6% | ||
| International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. | $83.96 | $21.44B | -57.5 | -2.6% | 1.9% | ||
| Amrize Ltd | $37.27 | $20.63B | 17.4 | 8.9% | — | ||
| Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. | $401.37 | $20.49B | 28.7 | 10.3% | 1.2% |
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APD
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VALE
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CTA-PA
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RSSector Outlook
Materials in 2026 remain tied to manufacturing trends, construction demand, and commodity balances. Industrial stabilization can help the group quickly; weaker global growth pressures both volumes and pricing.
Chemical and specialty materials businesses may outperform pure commodity names if they have better pricing power. Watch inventory normalization and whether cost pass-through stays intact.
Quality shows up in margins, asset position, and balance sheet flexibility — not just the lowest forward multiple.
Learn
Basic Materials covers companies supplying raw inputs for construction, manufacturing, agriculture, and packaging. Major groups: chemicals, metals and mining, containers, forest products, and construction materials.
The sector is highly exposed to the global industrial cycle. Pricing, utilization, and commodity swings can move margins quickly, especially for commoditized producers.
Specialty materials and leading chemical franchises deserve different valuation frameworks than pure commodity miners.
XLB provides broad exposure, but a selective approach works better because chemicals, packaging, and mining businesses respond differently to commodity and demand cycles.
Key risks: weaker industrial demand, lower commodity prices, higher input costs, and capital misallocation at cycle peaks. Companies with better scale and stronger balance sheets hold up best.
The screener is most useful for comparing similar sub-groups directly. In a cyclical sector, the right peer set matters as much as the multiple itself.
Explore Further
Chemicals, metals, mining, packaging, and construction material companies. The screener above shows the sector list.
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Use our powerful screener to filter Basic Materials stocks by market cap, valuation, profitability, and dozens of other fundamental metrics.
Valuation, growth, profitability, technicals
Prices, fundamentals, and estimates refreshed overnight
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Track the XLB sector ETF performance vs S&P 500. The basket shows equal-weight returns of top 50 stocks by market cap.
Momentum Leaders
Momentum Underperformers
Market Comparison
Against the S&P 500, Basic Materials currently trades at 33.8x trailing earnings versus 34.5x for the broad market. This discount reflects the sector's lower profitability metrics compared to the broader index.
Valuation
Valuation is broadly in line with the market
| Metric | Basic Materials | S&P 500 | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trailing P/E | 33.8x | 34.5x | Near parity |
| Forward P/E | 18.5x | 22.9x | Sector cheaper |
| EV/EBITDA | 15.8x | 23.4x | Sector cheaper |
72th percentile; range 24.9x to 37.2x
86th percentile; range 13.0x to 37.2x
Quality
Net margin 15.0% vs 28.6%; ROE 46.7% vs 49.3%
| Metric | Basic Materials | S&P 500 | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Net Margin | 15.0% | 28.6% | S&P 500 stronger |
| ROE | 46.7% | 49.3% | S&P 500 stronger |
Income
Sector yield 1.70% vs 0.97%
| Metric | Basic Materials | S&P 500 | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dividend Yield | 1.7% | 1.0% | Sector yields more |
These cards are built from the full sector universe, then ranked by market cap so you can see which pockets are leading, rich, resilient, or dangerously concentrated.
Industry Scoreboard
Use this table to spot heavyweights, cheap pockets, leaders, and genuinely beaten-down areas before opening the detailed cards below.
Specialty Chemicals 54 stocks | 24.1% $681.55B | Neutral -9.5% median 3M | Premium 19.6x median Fwd P/E | Mixed 4.1% median ROE | Weak 2.9% rev growth | Mixed Concentrated |
Gold 51 stocks | 23.7% $670.75B | Neutral +3.3% median 3M | Fair 9.7x median Fwd P/E | High 12.4% median ROE | Strong 63.2% rev growth | Watchlist Diversified |
Industrial Materials 42 stocks | 18.0% $509.79B | Lagging -11.6% median 3M | Premium 21.2x median Fwd P/E | Weak -14.3% median ROE | Average 19.2% rev growth | Broken One-name heavy |
Copper 5 stocks | 10.4% $293.9B | Leading +19.0% median 3M | Premium 17.6x median Fwd P/E | High 17.3% median ROE | Strong 32.8% rev growth | Expensive Leader One-name heavy |
Steel 23 stocks | 8.0% $226.73B | Leading +13.3% median 3M | Fair 14.0x median Fwd P/E | Weak 2.3% median ROE | Weak 3.8% rev growth | Mixed Concentrated |
Construction Materials 19 stocks | 6.2% $175.07B | Lagging -21.9% median 3M | Fair 14.6x median Fwd P/E | Mixed 11.2% median ROE | Weak 8.3% rev growth | Broken Concentrated |
Agricultural Inputs 18 stocks | 4.1% $114.43B | Lagging -10.6% median 3M | Cheap 11.6x median Fwd P/E | Mixed 2.2% median ROE | Weak 4.6% rev growth | Broken Concentrated |
Precious Metals 19 stocks | 1.3% $38.06B | Neutral +1.3% median 3M | Premium 13.4x median Fwd P/E | High 7.7% median ROE | Strong 71.0% rev growth | Mixed Diversified |
Chemicals 16 stocks | 1.3% $36.22B | Neutral -5.0% median 3M | Fair 9.8x median Fwd P/E | Weak -19.7% median ROE | Weak 0.6% rev growth | Mixed One-name heavy |
Silver 4 stocks | 1.1% $30.59B | Neutral +1.2% median 3M | Premium 21.8x median Fwd P/E | High 6.9% median ROE | Average 59.4% rev growth | Mixed One-name heavy |
Paper & Forest Products 11 stocks | 0.9% $26.69B | Neutral -2.6% median 3M | Cheap 17.4x median Fwd P/E | Weak -1.5% median ROE | Weak -5.4% rev growth | Mixed Concentrated |
Aluminum 4 stocks | 0.7% $21.05B | Neutral -14.6% median 3M | Fair 6.6x median Fwd P/E | Mixed 39.0% median ROE | Strong 21.3% rev growth | Watchlist One-name heavy |
Showing 12 of 12 industries in Basic Materials.
Setup is a quick read of value, quality, growth, momentum, and concentration together.
Earnings Calendar
Earnings reports are the biggest near-term catalysts for sector moves. Track which names report in the next 60 days and size your positions accordingly.