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Is American Financial Group (AFG) Stock Outpacing Its Finance Peers 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. Is American Financial Group (AFG - Free Report) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

American Financial Group is a member of the Finance sector. This group includes 894 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #2. 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 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. American Financial Group is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AFG's full-year earnings has moved 3.4% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Based on the latest available data, AFG has gained about 2.2% so far this year. At the same time, Finance stocks have lost an average of 1.5%. This means that American Financial Group is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Another Finance stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Bank of Montreal (BMO - Free Report) . The stock has returned 12.6% year-to-date.

For Bank of Montreal, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 5.3% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Breaking things down more, American Financial Group is a member of the Insurance - Property and Casualty industry, which includes 40 individual companies and currently sits at #65 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 12.6% this year, meaning that AFG is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.

Bank of Montreal, however, belongs to the Banks - Foreign industry. Currently, this 62-stock industry is ranked #110. The industry has moved +5.9% so far this year.

Investors interested in the Finance sector may want to keep a close eye on American Financial Group and Bank of Montreal as they attempt to continue their solid performance.


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