Investors focused on the Finance space have likely heard of Cowen Group , but is the stock performing well in comparison to the rest of its sector peers? 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.

Cowen Group is a member of our Finance group, which includes 886 different companies and currently sits at #2 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 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. COWN is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for COWN's full-year earnings has moved 48.20% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

Our latest available data shows that COWN has returned about 44.94% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Finance sector has returned an average of 12.53% on a year-to-date basis. This shows that Cowen Group is outperforming its peers so far this year.

To break things down more, COWN belongs to the Financial - Investment Bank industry, a group that includes 17 individual companies and currently sits at #4 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 25.96% so far this year, so COWN is performing better in this area.

Investors in the Finance sector will want to keep a close eye on COWN as it attempts to continue its solid performance.