Are Finance Stocks Lagging Macro Bank (BMA) 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. Has Banco Macro (BMA) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Banco Macro is one of 848 individual stocks in the Finance sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #13 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different sector groups. The average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups is measured, and the sectors are listed from best to worst.

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 Macro is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for BMA's full-year earnings has moved 100.7% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

According to our latest data, BMA has moved about 10.1% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, the Finance sector has returned an average of 3.6% on a year-to-date basis. This shows that Banco Macro is outperforming its peers so far this year.

One other Finance stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Assurant (AIZ). The stock is up 18.5% year-to-date.

In Assurant's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 14.1% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, Banco Macro belongs to the Banks - Foreign industry, a group that includes 63 individual companies and currently sits at #191 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 9.1% so far this year, so BMA is performing better in this area.

In contrast, Assurant falls under the Insurance - Multi line industry. Currently, this industry has 34 stocks and is ranked #78. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved -3.7%.

Investors with an interest in Finance stocks should continue to track Banco Macro and Assurant. These stocks will be looking to continue their solid performance.

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