For those looking to find strong Finance stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. American Healthcare REIT (AHR) 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? 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.
American Healthcare REIT is a member of the Finance sector. This group includes 890 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #5. The Zacks Sector Rank gauges the strength of our 16 individual sector groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups.
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 Healthcare REIT is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AHR's full-year earnings has moved 5.7% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.
According to our latest data, AHR has moved about 13.1% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, the Finance sector has returned an average of 3.2% on a year-to-date basis. This shows that American Healthcare REIT is outperforming its peers so far this year.
HCI Group (HCI) is another Finance stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 3.6%.
Over the past three months, HCI Group's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 14.3%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
To break things down more, American Healthcare REIT belongs to the REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry, a group that includes 90 individual companies and currently sits at #85 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 7.4% this year, meaning that AHR is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.
On the other hand, HCI Group belongs to the Insurance - Property and Casualty industry. This 46-stock industry is currently ranked #62. The industry has moved +5.4% year to date.
Going forward, investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to American Healthcare REIT and HCI Group as they could maintain their solid performance.
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American Healthcare REIT, Inc. (AHR): Free Stock Analysis Report
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).