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Is Bank of America (BAC) Stock Outpacing Its Finance Peers This Year?

Investors interested in Finance stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Bank of America (BAC) 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.

Bank of America is a member of our Finance group, which includes 901 different companies and currently sits at #1 in 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 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. Bank of America is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for BAC's full-year earnings has moved 4.7% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

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Our latest available data shows that BAC has returned about 47.3% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Finance group have gained about 23.6% on average. This means that Bank of America is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

One other Finance stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is AvalonBay Communities (AVB). The stock is up 55.6% year-to-date.

In AvalonBay Communities' case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 2.8% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Bank of America belongs to the Banks - Major Regional industry, a group that includes 15 individual stocks and currently sits at #65 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 35.2% so far this year, so BAC is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, AvalonBay Communities falls under the REIT and Equity Trust - Residential industry. Currently, this industry has 24 stocks and is ranked #27. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +50.2%.

Investors interested in the Finance sector may want to keep a close eye on Bank of America and AvalonBay Communities as they attempt to continue their solid performance.


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Bank of America Corporation (BAC) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (AVB) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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