Investors interested in Finance stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Has Banco Bilbao (BBVA) been one of those stocks this year? 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.
Banco Bilbao is one of 881 individual stocks in the Finance sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #5 in the Zacks Sector Rank. 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 emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find stocks with improving earnings outlooks. This system has a long record of success, and these stocks tend to be on track to beat the market over the next one to three months. Banco Bilbao is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for BBVA's full-year earnings has moved 6.8% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.
Our latest available data shows that BBVA has returned about 11.8% since the start of the calendar year. At the same time, Finance stocks have gained an average of 6.1%. This shows that Banco Bilbao is outperforming its peers so far this year.
One other Finance stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is BNY (BNY). The stock is up 31.7% year-to-date.
In BNY's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 6.1% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Breaking things down more, Banco Bilbao is a member of the Banks - Foreign industry, which includes 85 individual companies and currently sits at #109 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 15.5% this year, meaning that BBVA is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.
BNY, however, belongs to the Banks - Major Regional industry. Currently, this 9-stock industry is ranked #16. The industry has moved +20.5% so far this year.
Investors with an interest in Finance stocks should continue to track Banco Bilbao and BNY. These stocks will be looking to continue their solid performance.
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Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria S.A. (BBVA): Free Stock Analysis Report
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).