Are Finance Stocks Lagging Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria (BBVA) This Year?

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For those looking to find strong Finance stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Banco Bilbao (BBVA) 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.

Banco Bilbao is one of 853 companies in the Finance group. The Finance group currently sits at #15 within the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different groups, measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the sector to gauge the strength of each group.

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. Banco Bilbao is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for BBVA's full-year earnings has moved 9.2% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

According to our latest data, BBVA has moved about 31.8% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, the Finance sector has returned an average of 6.2% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Banco Bilbao is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

Mr Cooper (COOP) is another Finance stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 39.4%.

Over the past three months, Mr Cooper's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 18.6%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Looking more specifically, Banco Bilbao belongs to the Banks - Foreign industry, a group that includes 64 individual stocks and currently sits at #55 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 11.8% so far this year, so BBVA is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, Mr Cooper falls under the Financial - Consumer Loans industry. Currently, this industry has 16 stocks and is ranked #108. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +10.7%.

Going forward, investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to Banco Bilbao and Mr Cooper as they could maintain their solid performance.

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Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria S.A. (BBVA) : Free Stock Analysis Report

MR. COOPER GROUP INC (COOP) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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