The Finance group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Has Axos Financial (AX) been one of those stocks this year? 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.
Axos Financial is one of 890 companies in the Finance group. The Finance group currently sits at #5 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 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. Axos Financial is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AX's full-year earnings has moved 1.4% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.
Our latest available data shows that AX has returned about 4.3% since the start of the calendar year. At the same time, Finance stocks have gained an average of 3.7%. This means that Axos Financial is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.
Another stock in the Finance sector, Chubb (CB), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 14.6%.
In Chubb's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 2.3% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Breaking things down more, Axos Financial is a member of the Financial - Miscellaneous Services industry, which includes 113 individual companies and currently sits at #178 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has lost an average of 15.3% so far this year, meaning that AX is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.
In contrast, Chubb falls under the Insurance - Property and Casualty industry. Currently, this industry has 46 stocks and is ranked #71. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +6.7%.
Going forward, investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to Axos Financial and Chubb as they could maintain their solid performance.
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AXOS FINANCIAL, INC (AX): Free Stock Analysis Report
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).