For those looking to find strong Finance stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Has Bread Financial Holdings (BFH) 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.
Bread Financial Holdings is a member of the Finance sector. This group includes 862 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #2. 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 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. Bread Financial Holdings is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).
Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for BFH's full-year earnings has moved 22.1% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.
Our latest available data shows that BFH has returned about 27.7% since the start of the calendar year. At the same time, Finance stocks have gained an average of 16.7%. This shows that Bread Financial Holdings is outperforming its peers so far this year.
Another stock in the Finance sector, Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 35%.
The consensus estimate for Bank of Nova Scotia's current year EPS has increased 0.9% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Breaking things down more, Bread Financial Holdings is a member of the Financial - Miscellaneous Services industry, which includes 102 individual companies and currently sits at #87 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has lost an average of 4.9% so far this year, meaning that BFH is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.
In contrast, Bank of Nova Scotia falls under the Banks - Foreign industry. Currently, this industry has 67 stocks and is ranked #72. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +53.3%.
Going forward, investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to Bread Financial Holdings and Bank of Nova Scotia as they could maintain their solid performance.
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Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (BFH): Free Stock Analysis Report Bank of Nova Scotia (The) (BNS): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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