Investors interested in Finance stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Has Aegon NV (AEG) been one of those stocks this year? By taking a look at the stock's year-to-date performance in comparison to its Finance peers, we might be able to answer that question.
Aegon NV is a member of our Finance group, which includes 865 different companies and currently sits at #1 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank includes 16 different groups and is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors.
The Zacks Rank is a proven model that highlights a variety of stocks with the right characteristics to outperform the market over the next one to three months. The system emphasizes earnings estimate revisions and favors companies with improving earnings outlooks. Aegon NV is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AEG's full-year earnings has moved 15.7% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.
According to our latest data, AEG has moved about 29.5% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, the Finance sector has returned an average of 11.3% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Aegon NV is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.
Bank of America (BAC) is another Finance stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 17.1%.
For Bank of America, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 3% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, Aegon NV belongs to the Insurance - Multi line industry, a group that includes 45 individual stocks and currently sits at #28 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 2.4% so far this year, so AEG is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.
In contrast, Bank of America falls under the Financial - Investment Bank industry. Currently, this industry has 21 stocks and is ranked #16. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +25.7%.
Aegon NV and Bank of America could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.
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Aegon NV (AEG): Free Stock Analysis Report Bank of America Corporation (BAC): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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