The Finance group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Has Bank of America (BAC) 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 America is one of 863 companies in the Finance group. The Finance group currently sits at #2 within 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 system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. Bank of America is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for BAC's full-year earnings has moved 3.3% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.
Based on the latest available data, BAC has gained about 23.1% so far this year. At the same time, Finance stocks have gained an average of 15.4%. This means that Bank of America is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.
Another stock in the Finance sector, Bread Financial Holdings (BFH), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 16.7%.
The consensus estimate for Bread Financial Holdings' current year EPS has increased 21.4% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, Bank of America belongs to the Financial - Investment Bank industry, which includes 21 individual stocks and currently sits at #27 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 33.1% so far this year, meaning that BAC is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.
In contrast, Bread Financial Holdings falls under the Financial - Miscellaneous Services industry. Currently, this industry has 102 stocks and is ranked #67. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved -3.5%.
Going forward, investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to Bank of America and Bread Financial Holdings as they could maintain their solid performance.
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Bank of America Corporation (BAC): Free Stock Analysis Report Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (BFH): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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