The Finance group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Is EPR Properties (EPR) one of those stocks right now? 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.
EPR Properties is a member of the Finance sector. This group includes 847 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #2. 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 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. EPR Properties is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for EPR's full-year earnings has moved 0.2% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.
Based on the latest available data, EPR has gained about 7.2% so far this year. In comparison, Finance companies have returned an average of -5.9%. This means that EPR Properties is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.
Another Finance stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Byline Bancorp (BY). The stock has returned 4.3% year-to-date.
Over the past three months, Byline Bancorp's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 5.7%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, EPR Properties belongs to the REIT and Equity Trust - Retail industry, which includes 19 individual stocks and currently sits at #32 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 12.9% so far this year, so EPR is slightly underperforming its industry in this area.
In contrast, Byline Bancorp falls under the Banks - Northeast industry. Currently, this industry has 73 stocks and is ranked #40. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +1%.
Going forward, investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to EPR Properties and Byline Bancorp as they could maintain their solid performance.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).