Is American Equity Investment Life Holding (AEL) Stock Outpacing Its Finance Peers This Year?
Investors interested in Finance stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. American Equity Investment (AEL) is a stock that can certainly grab the attention of many investors, but do its recent returns compare favorably to the sector as a whole? 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.
American Equity Investment is a member of our Finance group, which includes 844 different companies and currently sits at #9 in 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 successful stock-picking model that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions. The system highlights a number of different stocks that could be poised to outperform the broader market over the next one to three months. American Equity Investment is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AEL's full-year earnings has moved 12.5% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.
According to our latest data, AEL has moved about 21.2% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, stocks in the Finance group have gained about 13.1% on average. This means that American Equity Investment is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.
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 52%.
Over the past three months, Federal Agricultural Mortgage's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 2.1%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
Looking more specifically, American Equity Investment belongs to the Insurance - Life Insurance industry, which includes 13 individual stocks and currently sits at #62 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 21.2% so far this year, so AEL is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.
In contrast, Federal Agricultural Mortgage falls under the Financial - Mortgage & Related Services industry. Currently, this industry has 15 stocks and is ranked #136. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved -20.5%.
American Equity Investment and Federal Agricultural Mortgage could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.
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American Equity Investment Life Holding Company (AEL) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (AGM) : Free Stock Analysis Report
