Is Amalgamated Financial (AMAL) Outperforming Other Finance Stocks 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 Amalgamated Financial (AMAL) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.
Amalgamated Financial is one of 892 companies in the Finance group. The Finance group currently sits at #6 within the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank gauges the strength of our 16 individual sector groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups.
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. Amalgamated Financial is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AMAL's full-year earnings has moved 25.4% 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 AMAL has returned about 27.6% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Finance sector has returned an average of -9.1% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, Amalgamated Financial is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.
One other Finance stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Equity Commonwealth (EQC). The stock is up 8% year-to-date.
In Equity Commonwealth's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 166.7% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, Amalgamated Financial belongs to the Financial - SBIC & Commercial Industry industry, a group that includes 36 individual stocks and currently sits at #99 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has lost an average of 4.8% so far this year, meaning that AMAL is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.
Equity Commonwealth, however, belongs to the REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry. Currently, this 108-stock industry is ranked #162. The industry has moved -12.2% so far this year.
Investors interested in the Finance sector may want to keep a close eye on Amalgamated Financial and Equity Commonwealth as they attempt to continue their solid performance.
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