Has CullenFrost Bankers (CFR) Outpaced Other Finance Stocks This Year?
Investors interested in Finance stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Cullen/Frost Bankers (CFR) 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.
Cullen/Frost Bankers is one of 895 individual stocks in the Finance sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #3 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. Cullen/Frost Bankers is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for CFR's full-year earnings has moved 23.1% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.
Our latest available data shows that CFR has returned about 11.3% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Finance group have lost about 4% on average. This shows that Cullen/Frost Bankers is outperforming its peers so far this year.
One other Finance stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Realty Income Corp. (O). The stock is up 0.8% year-to-date.
The consensus estimate for Realty Income Corp.'s current year EPS has increased 0.4% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
To break things down more, Cullen/Frost Bankers belongs to the Banks - Southwest industry, a group that includes 18 individual companies and currently sits at #15 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 2.7% so far this year, so CFR is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.
Realty Income Corp. however, belongs to the REIT and Equity Trust - Retail industry. Currently, this 25-stock industry is ranked #61. The industry has moved -7.8% so far this year.
Going forward, investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to Cullen/Frost Bankers and Realty Income Corp. as they could maintain their solid performance.
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