For those looking to find strong Finance stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Has Bank of Montreal (BMO) been one of those stocks this year? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Finance sector should help us answer this question.
Bank of Montreal is one of 869 companies in the Finance group. The Finance group currently sits at #2 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 is a successful stock-picking model that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions. The system highlights a number of different stocks that could be poised to outperform the broader market over the next one to three months. Bank of Montreal is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for BMO's full-year earnings has moved 3.5% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.
According to our latest data, BMO has moved about 14.2% on a year-to-date basis. In comparison, Finance companies have returned an average of 7.6%. As we can see, Bank of Montreal is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.
Another Finance stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Axa Sa (AXAHY). The stock has returned 28.3% year-to-date.
The consensus estimate for Axa Sa's current year EPS has increased 7.1% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
To break things down more, Bank of Montreal belongs to the Banks - Foreign industry, a group that includes 67 individual companies and currently sits at #44 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 26.7% so far this year, so BMO is slightly underperforming its industry in this area.
In contrast, Axa Sa falls under the Insurance - Multi line industry. Currently, this industry has 43 stocks and is ranked #85. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved -0.2%.
Investors with an interest in Finance stocks should continue to track Bank of Montreal and Axa Sa. These stocks will be looking to continue their solid performance.
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Bank Of Montreal (BMO): Free Stock Analysis Report Axa Sa (AXAHY): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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