Are Finance Stocks Lagging Assured Guaranty (AGO) This Year?
The Finance group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Is Assured Guaranty (AGO) one of those stocks right now? By taking a look at the stock's year-to-date performance in comparison to its Finance peers, we might be able to answer that question.
Assured Guaranty is a member of our Finance group, which includes 856 different companies and currently sits at #12 in the Zacks Sector Rank. 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 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. Assured Guaranty is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AGO's full-year earnings has moved 33% higher within the past quarter. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.
Our latest available data shows that AGO has returned about 9.7% since the start of the calendar year. At the same time, Finance stocks have gained an average of 2.7%. As we can see, Assured Guaranty is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.
Another stock in the Finance sector, Bancolombia (CIB), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 10.8%.
For Bancolombia, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 5.7% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
To break things down more, Assured Guaranty belongs to the Insurance - Multi line industry, a group that includes 38 individual companies and currently sits at #69 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 11.9% this year, meaning that AGO is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.
Bancolombia, however, belongs to the Banks - Foreign industry. Currently, this 67-stock industry is ranked #137. The industry has moved +5.7% so far this year.
Investors interested in the Finance sector may want to keep a close eye on Assured Guaranty and Bancolombia as they attempt to continue their solid performance.
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Assured Guaranty Ltd. (AGO) : Free Stock Analysis Report
BanColombia S.A. (CIB) : Free Stock Analysis Report