Sectors & IndustriesBasic Materials

Best Basic Material Stocks to Buy Now (2026)

Top basic material stocks in 2026 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:

Alto Ingredients (NASDAQ:ALTO) is the #1 top basic material stock out of 325 with a Zen Rating of A. Stocks with a rating of A have had an average return of +28.5% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for Alto Ingredients (NASDAQ:ALTO) is: Value: B, Growth: B, Momentum: C, Sentiment: B, Safety: B, Financials: C, and AI: B.

Alto Ingredients (NASDAQ:ALTO) has a Due Diligence Score of 44, which is 14 points higher than the basic material sector average of 30. It passed 14 out of 33 due diligence checks and has strong fundamentals. Alto Ingredients has seen its stock return 371.84% over the past year, overperforming other basic material stocks by 360 percentage points.

Alto Ingredients has an average 1 year price target of $10.00, an upside of 105.76% from Alto Ingredients's current stock price of $4.86.

Alto Ingredients stock has a consensus Buy recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 1 analyst covering Alto Ingredients, 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.

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) is the #2 top basic material stock out of 325 with a Zen Rating of A. Stocks with a rating of A have had an average return of +28.5% per year. Learn more.

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

Nucor (NYSE:NUE) has a Due Diligence Score of 50, which is 20 points higher than the basic material sector average of 30. It passed 19 out of 38 due diligence checks and has strong fundamentals. Nucor has seen its stock return 90.74% over the past year, overperforming other basic material stocks by 79 percentage points.

Nucor has an average 1 year price target of $268.10, an upside of 2.61% from Nucor's current stock price of $261.28.

Nucor stock has a consensus Strong Buy recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 10 analysts covering Nucor, 60% have issued a Strong Buy rating, 10% have issued a Buy, 30% have issued a Hold, while 0% have issued a Sell rating, and 0% have issued a Strong Sell.

Koppers Holdings (NYSE:KOP) is the #3 top basic material stock out of 325 with a Zen Rating of A. Stocks with a rating of A have had an average return of +28.5% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for Koppers Holdings (NYSE:KOP) is: Value: B, Growth: C, Momentum: A, Sentiment: B, Safety: C, Financials: C, and AI: B.

Koppers Holdings (NYSE:KOP) has a Due Diligence Score of 35, which is 5 points higher than the basic material sector average of 30. It passed 12 out of 38 due diligence checks and has average fundamentals. Koppers Holdings has seen its stock return 59.28% over the past year, overperforming other basic material stocks by 48 percentage points.

Koppers Holdings has an average 1 year price target of $55.00, an upside of 8.42% from Koppers Holdings's current stock price of $50.73.

Koppers Holdings stock has a consensus Buy recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 1 analyst covering Koppers Holdings, 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 140 basic material stocks that have issued dividends in the past year, the 3 basic material stocks with the highest dividend yields are:

Cvr Partners (NYSE:UAN) has an annual dividend yield of 9.78%, which is 8 percentage points higher than the basic material sector average of 1.8%. Cvr Partners's dividend payout is not stable, having dropped more than 10% nine times in the last 10 years. Cvr Partners's dividend has shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

Cvr Partners's dividend payout ratio of 81.1% indicates that its high dividend yield is sustainable for the long-term.

Alliance Resource Partners (NASDAQ:ARLP) has an annual dividend yield of 9.19%, which is 7 percentage points higher than the basic material sector average of 1.8%. Alliance Resource Partners's dividend payout is not stable, having dropped more than 10% three times in the last 10 years. Alliance Resource Partners's dividend has shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

Alliance Resource Partners's dividend payout ratio of 126.3% indicates that its high dividend yield might not be sustainable for the long-term.

Westlake Chemical Partners (NYSE:WLKP) has an annual dividend yield of 8.86%, which is 7 percentage points higher than the basic material sector average of 1.8%. Westlake Chemical Partners's dividend payout is stable, having never dropped by more than 10% in the last 10 years. Westlake Chemical Partners's dividend has shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

Westlake Chemical Partners's dividend payout ratio of 114.9% indicates that its high dividend yield might not be sustainable for the long-term.

Basic material stocks were up 1.97% in the last day, and down -0.1% over the last week. Airjoule Technologies was the among the top gainers in the basic materials sector, gaining 20.09% yesterday.

Shares of machinery-related companies are trading higher in sympathy with Caterpillar after the company reported strong second-quarter financial results. Declining oil prices have also helped ease inflation concerns, with lower financing costs potentially supporting capital investment and demand for heavy equipment and other large industrial purchases.

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 43, which is 24 points higher than the basic material sector average of 19. It passed 3 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

Nexa Resources Sa's stock has gained 168.27% in the past year. It has overperformed other stocks in the basic material sector by 156 percentage points.

B2gold (NYSEMKT:BTG) 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.

B2gold has a valuation score of 43, which is 24 points higher than the basic material sector average of 19. It passed 3 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

B2gold's stock has gained 7.84% in the past year. It has underperformed other stocks in the basic material sector by -4 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 52 points higher than the basic material sector average of 19. It passed 5 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

Fortuna Mining's stock has gained 29.21% in the past year. It has overperformed other stocks in the basic material sector by 17 percentage points.

44.89% of basic material stocks rated by analysts are a strong buy right now. On average, analysts expect basic material stocks to rise by 22.33% over the next year.

5.69% of basic material stocks have a Zen Rating of A (Strong Buy), 16.37% of basic material stocks are rated B (Buy), 53.74% are rated C (Hold), 12.46% are rated D (Sell), and 11.74% are rated F (Strong Sell).