Bull of the Day: Barclays (BCS)

Barclays is a major global banking and financial services company with about $2 trillion in total assets. With more than 325 years of expertise, Barclays operates through an international network in nearly 40 countries and regions in Europe, the United States, Africa, and Asia.

This banking stock is displaying relative strength and has been making a series of 52-week highs this year. Many international markets are outperforming their domestic counterparts in 2025. BCS shares have held up extremely well through the recent market volatility. Increasing volume has attracted investor attention as buying pressure accumulates in this top-ranked stock.

A Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Barclays is part of the Zacks Banks - Foreign industry group, which currently ranks in the top 6% out of more than 250 industries. Because this group is ranked in the top half of all Zacks Ranked Industries, we expect it to outperform the market over the next 3 to 6 months, just as it has so far this year:

Also note the favorable characteristics for this group below:

Historical research studies suggest that approximately half of a stock’s price appreciation is due to its industry grouping. In fact, the top 50% of Zacks Ranked Industries outperforms the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.

It’s no secret that investing in stocks that are part of leading industry groups can give us a leg up relative to the market. By focusing on leading stocks within the top industries, we can dramatically improve our stock-picking success.

Company Description

Barclays offers financial services such as retail banking, wholesale banking, investment banking, wealth management, and lending products. The company also engages in securities dealing activities and the issuing of credit cards.

Barclays’ initiatives to improve efficiency over the last few years have helped streamline its business and reduce expenses. Structural cost actions resulted in gross savings of £1 billion in 2024 and £150 million thus far in 2025.

Back in April, Barclays announced a collaboration with Brookfield Asset Management to transform its payment acceptance business. Furthermore, the company also divested its Germany-based consumer finance business earlier this year. These business-simplifying efforts are anticipated to boost financials moving forward.

Earnings Trends and Future Estimates

Barclays BCS surpassed earnings estimates in each of the past four quarters. The UK banking giant most recently delivered first-quarter earnings back in April of $0.65 per share, which represented a 6.6% surprise over the Zacks Consensus Estimate. An increase in revenues driven by solid investment banking performance aided the results.

Barclays has delivered a trailing four-quarter average surprise of 30.2%. Consistently beating earnings estimates is a recipe for success.

Analysts covering BCS have raised their full-year EPS estimates by 10.4% in the past 60 days. The 2025 Zacks Consensus EPS Estimate now stands at $2.23 per share, translating to growth of 21.2% relative to last year.

Let’s Get Technical

This market leader has seen its stock advance nearly 30% already this year, all while the general market witnessed a drastic correction. Only stocks that are in extremely powerful uptrends are able to experience this type of outperformance. This is the kind of stock we want to include in our portfolio – one that is trending well and receiving positive earnings estimate revisions.

Notice how both the 50-day (blue line) and 200-day (red line) moving averages are sloping up. The stock has been making a series of higher highs throughout the past year. With both strong fundamental and technical indicators, BCS stock is poised to continue its outperformance.

Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. As we know, BCS has recently witnessed positive revisions. As long as this trend remains intact (and Barclays continues to deliver earnings beats), the stock will likely continue its bullish run.

Bottom Line

Backed by a leading industry group and history of earnings beats, it’s not difficult to see why BCS stock is a compelling investment. Robust fundamentals combined with an appealing technical trend certainly justify adding shares to the mix.

Barclays has been rewarding shareholders with enhanced capital distributions. The company intends to keep the total dividend payout stable with progressive dividend growth. Barclays plans to return at least £10 billion of capital to shareholders between 2024 and 2026 through dividends and share buybacks.

Recent positive earnings estimate revisions should also serve to create a ‘floor’ in terms of any sudden or unexpected downside moves. If you haven’t already done so, be sure to put BCS on your shortlist.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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