The Finance group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Has Citigroup (C) been one of those stocks this year? 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.
Citigroup is one of 873 companies in the Finance group. The Finance group currently sits at #5 within the Zacks Sector Rank. 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 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. Citigroup is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for C's full-year earnings has moved 4.9% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.
Based on the latest available data, C has gained about 18.4% so far this year. At the same time, Finance stocks have gained an average of 9.1%. As we can see, Citigroup is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.
Federal Agricultural Mortgage (AGM) is another Finance stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 28.8%.
The consensus estimate for Federal Agricultural Mortgage's current year EPS has increased 4.9% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
To break things down more, Citigroup belongs to the Financial - Investment Bank industry, a group that includes 22 individual companies and currently sits at #30 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 13.3% so far this year, so C is performing better in this area.
In contrast, Federal Agricultural Mortgage falls under the Financial - Mortgage & Related Services industry. Currently, this industry has 11 stocks and is ranked #236. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved -34.4%.
Investors interested in the Finance sector may want to keep a close eye on Citigroup and Federal Agricultural Mortgage as they attempt to continue their solid performance.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).