For those looking to find strong Finance stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. AIA (AAGIY) is a stock that can certainly grab the attention of many investors, but do its recent returns compare favorably to the sector as a whole? 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.
AIA is one of 857 companies in the Finance group. The Finance group currently sits at #5 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 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. AIA is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AAGIY's full-year earnings has moved 3.1% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.
Based on the latest available data, AAGIY has gained about 22.8% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Finance sector has returned an average of 5.8% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, AIA is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.
One other Finance stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is First Bancorp (FBP). The stock is up 8.7% year-to-date.
Over the past three months, First Bancorp's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 4.1%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
Looking more specifically, AIA belongs to the Insurance - Life Insurance industry, which includes 16 individual stocks and currently sits at #90 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 1.8% this year, meaning that AAGIY is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.
In contrast, First Bancorp falls under the Banks - Southeast industry. Currently, this industry has 53 stocks and is ranked #56. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved -4.7%.
Going forward, investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to AIA and First Bancorp as they could maintain their solid performance.
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AIA (AAGIY): Free Stock Analysis Report First BanCorp. (FBP): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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