For those looking to find strong Finance stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Has Amalgamated Financial (AMAL) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.
Amalgamated Financial is one of 873 companies in the Finance group. The Finance group currently sits at #8 within the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different groups, measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the sector to gauge the strength of each group.
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. Amalgamated Financial is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AMAL's full-year earnings has moved 3.4% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.
Our latest available data shows that AMAL has returned about 45.4% since the start of the calendar year. In comparison, Finance companies have returned an average of 4.1%. This means that Amalgamated Financial is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.
Another stock in the Finance sector, Northern Trust Corporation (NTRS), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 27.4%.
In Northern Trust Corporation's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 8.2% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, Amalgamated Financial belongs to the Financial - SBIC & Commercial Industry industry, which includes 37 individual stocks and currently sits at #103 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has lost an average of 12.1% so far this year, meaning that AMAL is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.
On the other hand, Northern Trust Corporation belongs to the Banks - Major Regional industry. This 9-stock industry is currently ranked #88. The industry has moved +13% year to date.
Amalgamated Financial and Northern Trust Corporation could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.
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Amalgamated Financial Corp. (AMAL): Free Stock Analysis Report
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).