Investors interested in Finance stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Has Ames National (ATLO) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.
Ames National is one of 873 individual stocks in the Finance sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #7 in 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 proven system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. Ames National is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ATLO's full-year earnings has moved 0.7% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.
Our latest available data shows that ATLO has returned about 40.9% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Finance sector has returned an average of 6.4% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Ames National is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.
Another Finance stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Bread Financial Holdings (BFH). The stock has returned 44.4% year-to-date.
Over the past three months, Bread Financial Holdings' consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 13.6%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
To break things down more, Ames National belongs to the Banks - Midwest industry, a group that includes 28 individual companies and currently sits at #63 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 4% so far this year, meaning that ATLO is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.
Bread Financial Holdings, however, belongs to the Financial - Miscellaneous Services industry. Currently, this 115-stock industry is ranked #103. The industry has moved -10% so far this year.
Going forward, investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to Ames National and Bread Financial Holdings as they could maintain their solid performance.
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Ames National Corporation (ATLO): Free Stock Analysis Report
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).