For those looking to find strong Finance stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Is American Assets Trust (AAT) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.
American Assets Trust is a member of our Finance group, which includes 837 different companies and currently sits at #4 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 successful stock-picking model that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions. The system highlights a number of different stocks that could be poised to outperform the broader market over the next one to three months. American Assets Trust is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AAT's full-year earnings has moved 2.8% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.
According to our latest data, AAT has moved about 0.1% on a year-to-date basis. In comparison, Finance companies have returned an average of -5.3%. This shows that American Assets Trust is outperforming its peers so far this year.
CME Group (CME) is another Finance stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 13.7%.
The consensus estimate for CME Group's current year EPS has increased 3.9% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, American Assets Trust belongs to the REIT and Equity Trust - Retail industry, which includes 19 individual stocks and currently sits at #20 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 12.9% so far this year, so AAT is slightly underperforming its industry in this area.
On the other hand, CME Group belongs to the Securities and Exchanges industry. This 8-stock industry is currently ranked #52. The industry has moved -4.1% year to date.
Investors interested in the Finance sector may want to keep a close eye on American Assets Trust and CME Group as they attempt to continue their solid performance.
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American Assets Trust, Inc. (AAT): Free Stock Analysis Report
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).