Is Banner (BANR) Stock Outpacing Its Finance Peers 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. Banner (BANR) 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? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.
Banner is one of 892 individual stocks in the Finance sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #2 in 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 emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find stocks with improving earnings outlooks. This system has a long record of success, and these stocks tend to be on track to beat the market over the next one to three months. Banner is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for BANR's full-year earnings has moved 3.1% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.
According to our latest data, BANR has moved about 0.7% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, stocks in the Finance group have lost about 20.8% on average. This means that Banner is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.
Another stock in the Finance sector, BancFirst (BANF), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 27.5%.
The consensus estimate for BancFirst's current year EPS has increased 16.1% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, Banner belongs to the Financial - Savings and Loan industry, a group that includes 32 individual stocks and currently sits at #49 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have lost about 16.3% so far this year, so BANR is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.
BancFirst, however, belongs to the Banks - Southwest industry. Currently, this 19-stock industry is ranked #54. The industry has moved +0.9% so far this year.
Investors with an interest in Finance stocks should continue to track Banner and BancFirst. These stocks will be looking to continue their solid performance.
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