Are Finance Stocks Lagging Alerus Financial (ALRS) 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 Alerus (ALRS) one of those stocks right now? 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.

Alerus is a member of our Finance group, which includes 851 different companies and currently sits at #4 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different sector groups. The average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups is measured, and the sectors are listed from best to worst.

The Zacks Rank is a proven model that highlights a variety of stocks with the right characteristics to outperform the market over the next one to three months. The system emphasizes earnings estimate revisions and favors companies with improving earnings outlooks. Alerus is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ALRS' full-year earnings has moved 5.6% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Our latest available data shows that ALRS has returned about 13% since the start of the calendar year. At the same time, Finance stocks have gained an average of 1.2%. This shows that Alerus is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Another Finance stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Capital Southwest (CSWC). The stock has returned 2.8% year-to-date.

In Capital Southwest's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 3.6% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, Alerus belongs to the Financial - Miscellaneous Services industry, a group that includes 103 individual companies and currently sits at #85 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have lost about 8% so far this year, so ALRS is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, Capital Southwest falls under the Financial - Investment Management industry. Currently, this industry has 37 stocks and is ranked #141. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved -9.4%.

Going forward, investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to Alerus and Capital Southwest as they could maintain their solid performance.

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

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