Are Finance Stocks Lagging Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) This Year?

For those looking to find strong Finance stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Is Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Bank of Nova Scotia is a member of the Finance sector. This group includes 890 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #6. 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. Bank of Nova Scotia is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for BNS' full-year earnings has moved 3.1% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Our latest available data shows that BNS has returned about 22.4% since the start of the calendar year. In comparison, Finance companies have returned an average of 4.2%. As we can see, Bank of Nova Scotia is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Another Finance stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Popular (BPOP). The stock has returned 27.1% year-to-date.

For Popular, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 4.8% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Bank of Nova Scotia belongs to the Banks - Foreign industry, which includes 85 individual stocks and currently sits at #56 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 15.9% so far this year, so BNS is performing better in this area.

In contrast, Popular falls under the Banks - Southeast industry. Currently, this industry has 58 stocks and is ranked #74. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +5.4%.

Investors interested in the Finance sector may want to keep a close eye on Bank of Nova Scotia and Popular as they attempt to continue their solid performance.

Zacks' Research Chief Names "Stock Most Likely to Double"

Our team of experts has just released the 5 stocks with the greatest probability of gaining +100% or more in the coming months. Of those 5, Director of Research Sheraz Mian highlights the one stock set to climb highest.

Of course, all our elite picks aren't winners, but this one could far surpass earlier Zacks' Stocks Set to Double like D-Wave Quantum, which shot up +680.1%.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

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

Zacks Investment Research