Are Finance Stocks Lagging American Equity Investment Life Holding (AEL) This Year?
The Finance group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Has American Equity Investment (AEL) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.
American Equity Investment is a member of the Finance sector. This group includes 842 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #9. 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 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. American Equity Investment is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AEL's full-year earnings has moved 12.6% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.
Based on the most recent data, AEL has returned 22.5% so far this year. In comparison, Finance companies have returned an average of 18.2%. 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 71%.
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, a group that includes 13 individual stocks and currently sits at #79 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 23.6% so far this year, so AEL is slightly underperforming its industry this group in terms of year-to-date returns.
On the other hand, Federal Agricultural Mortgage belongs to the Financial - Mortgage & Related Services industry. This 15-stock industry is currently ranked #160. The industry has moved -10.3% year to date.
Going forward, investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to American Equity Investment and Federal Agricultural Mortgage as they could maintain their solid performance.
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American Equity Investment Life Holding Company (AEL) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (AGM) : Free Stock Analysis Report
