Sectors & IndustriesBasic Materials

Best Basic Material Stocks to Buy Now (2025)

Top basic material stocks in 2025 ranked by overall Due Diligence Score. See the best basic material stocks to buy now, according to analyst forecasts for the basic materials sector.

According to Zen Ratings, our proprietary rating system that evaluates 115 factors proven to drive growth in stocks and assigns each stock in our system an overall letter grade as well as 7 individual Component Grades for Value, Growth, Momentum, Sentiment, Safety, Financials, and proprietary AI algorithms, the 3 best basic material stocks to buy right now are:

Caledonia Mining (NYSEMKT:CMCL) is the #1 top basic material stock out of 310 with a Zen Rating of A. Stocks with a rating of A have had an average return of +32.52% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for Caledonia Mining (NYSEMKT:CMCL) is: Value: A, Growth: B, Momentum: A, Sentiment: B, Safety: C, Financials: B, and AI: C.

Caledonia Mining (NYSEMKT:CMCL) has a Due Diligence Score of 41, which is 10 points higher than the basic material sector average of 31. It passed 17 out of 38 due diligence checks and has strong fundamentals. Caledonia Mining has seen its stock return 75.87% over the past year, overperforming other basic material stocks by 85 percentage points.

Caledonia Mining has an average 1 year price target of $28.00, an upside of 5.66% from Caledonia Mining's current stock price of $26.50.

Caledonia Mining stock has a consensus Strong Buy recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 1 analyst covering Caledonia Mining, 100% have issued a Strong Buy rating, 0% have issued a Buy, 0% have issued a Hold, while 0% have issued a Sell rating, and 0% have issued a Strong Sell.

Centerra Gold (NYSE:CGAU) is the #2 top basic material stock out of 310 with a Zen Rating of A. Stocks with a rating of A have had an average return of +32.52% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for Centerra Gold (NYSE:CGAU) is: Value: B, Growth: B, Momentum: A, Sentiment: B, Safety: C, Financials: B, and AI: B.

Centerra Gold (NYSE:CGAU) has a Due Diligence Score of 38, which is 7 points higher than the basic material sector average of 31. It passed 15 out of 38 due diligence checks and has average fundamentals. Centerra Gold has seen its stock return 75.54% over the past year, overperforming other basic material stocks by 85 percentage points.

Centerra Gold has an average 1 year price target of $14.17, an upside of 24.82% from Centerra Gold's current stock price of $11.35.

Centerra Gold stock has a consensus Buy recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 3 analysts covering Centerra Gold, 0% have issued a Strong Buy rating, 66.67% have issued a Buy, 33.33% have issued a Hold, while 0% have issued a Sell rating, and 0% have issued a Strong Sell.

Orla Mining (NYSEMKT:ORLA) is the #3 top basic material stock out of 310 with a Zen Rating of A. Stocks with a rating of A have had an average return of +32.52% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for Orla Mining (NYSEMKT:ORLA) is: Value: B, Growth: A, Momentum: B, Sentiment: C, Safety: D, Financials: B, and AI: C.

Orla Mining (NYSEMKT:ORLA) has a Due Diligence Score of 54, which is 23 points higher than the basic material sector average of 31. It passed 19 out of 33 due diligence checks and has strong fundamentals. Orla Mining has seen its stock return 106.44% over the past year, overperforming other basic material stocks by 116 percentage points.

Orla Mining has an average 1 year price target of $27.00, an upside of 182.43% from Orla Mining's current stock price of $9.56.

Orla Mining stock has a consensus Buy recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 1 analyst covering Orla Mining, 0% have issued a Strong Buy rating, 100% have issued a Buy, 0% have issued a Hold, while 0% have issued a Sell rating, and 0% have issued a Strong Sell.

Out of 105 basic material stocks that have issued dividends in the past year, the 3 basic material stocks with the highest dividend yields are:

Fmc (NYSE:FMC) has an annual dividend yield of 17.89%, which is 16 percentage points higher than the basic material sector average of 2.29%. Fmc's dividend payout is stable, having never dropped by more than 10% in the last 10 years. Fmc's dividend has shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

Fmc's dividend payout ratio of -54.8% indicates that its high dividend yield might not be sustainable for the long-term.

Huntsman (NYSE:HUN) has an annual dividend yield of 13.48%, which is 11 percentage points higher than the basic material sector average of 2.29%. Huntsman's dividend payout is stable, having never dropped by more than 10% in the last 10 years. Huntsman's dividend has shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

Huntsman's dividend payout ratio of -51% indicates that its high dividend yield might not be sustainable for the long-term.

Tronox Holdings (NYSE:TROX) has an annual dividend yield of 13.41%, which is 11 percentage points higher than the basic material sector average of 2.29%. Tronox Holdings's dividend payout is not stable, having dropped more than 10% two times in the last 10 years. Tronox Holdings's dividend has not shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

Tronox Holdings's dividend payout ratio of -20.6% indicates that its high dividend yield might not be sustainable for the long-term.

Basic material stocks were down -1.11% in the last day, and down -3.38% over the last week. Kronos Worldwide was the among the top losers in the basic materials sector, dropping -6.78% yesterday.

Kronos Worldwide shares are trading lower after the company reported worse-than-expected Q3 financial results.

Based on the Valuation rating, one of the 7 components of a stocks overall Zen Ratings grade, which evaluates factors including estimated earnings yield, earnings before interest and taxes/enterprise value, cash flow yield, free cash flow to price, and price-to-earnings growth (PEG ratio), the 3 most undervalued basic material stocks right now are:

Nexa Resources Sa (NYSE:NEXA) is the most undervalued basic material stock based on its Valuation Rating of A. Valuation is one of 7 Component Grades used to calculate the overall Zen Rating.

Nexa Resources Sa has a valuation score of 14, which is -9 points higher than the basic material sector average of 23. It passed 1 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks. Although this number is below the industry average, our proven quant model rates NEXA a Valuation Rating of "A".

Nexa Resources Sa's stock has dropped -32.86% in the past year. It has underperformed other stocks in the basic material sector by -23 percentage points.

Advansix (NYSE:ASIX) is the second most undervalued basic material stock based on its Valuation Rating of A. Valuation is one of 7 Component Grades used to calculate the overall Zen Rating.

Advansix has a valuation score of 57, which is 34 points higher than the basic material sector average of 23. It passed 4 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

Advansix's stock has dropped -50.56% in the past year. It has underperformed other stocks in the basic material sector by -41 percentage points.

Fortuna Mining (NYSE:FSM) is the third most undervalued basic material stock based on its Valuation Rating of A. Valuation is one of 7 Component Grades used to calculate the overall Zen Rating.

Fortuna Mining has a valuation score of 71, which is 48 points higher than the basic material sector average of 23. It passed 5 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

Fortuna Mining's stock has gained 70.98% in the past year. It has overperformed other stocks in the basic material sector by 80 percentage points.

43.6% of basic material stocks rated by analysts are a buy right now. On average, analysts expect basic material stocks to rise by 20.99% over the next year.

6.88% of basic material stocks have a Zen Rating of A (Strong Buy), 14.13% of basic material stocks are rated B (Buy), 52.9% are rated C (Hold), 15.58% are rated D (Sell), and 10.51% are rated F (Strong Sell).