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Has AGNC Investment (AGNC) Outpaced Other Finance Stocks This Year?

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The Finance group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Is AGNC Investment (AGNC - Free Report) one of those stocks right now? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Finance sector should help us answer this question.

AGNC Investment is one of 872 companies in the Finance group. The Finance group currently sits at #12 within 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. AGNC Investment is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AGNC's full-year earnings has moved 4% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Our latest available data shows that AGNC has returned about 12.1% since the start of the calendar year. In comparison, Finance companies have returned an average of 7.8%. As we can see, AGNC Investment is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Another Finance stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Axis Capital (AXS - Free Report) . The stock has returned 15.5% year-to-date.

The consensus estimate for Axis Capital's current year EPS has increased 2.4% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Breaking things down more, AGNC Investment is a member of the REIT and Equity Trust industry, which includes 35 individual companies and currently sits at #197 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 17.2% so far this year, meaning that AGNC is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, Axis Capital falls under the Insurance - Property and Casualty industry. Currently, this industry has 41 stocks and is ranked #91. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +1.2%.

AGNC Investment and Axis Capital could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.


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