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Is Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (AJG) Outperforming Other Finance Stocks This Year?

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Investors interested in Finance stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Arthur J. Gallagher (AJG - Free Report) 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.

Arthur J. Gallagher is a member of our Finance group, which includes 862 different companies and currently sits at #3 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. Arthur J. Gallagher is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AJG's full-year earnings has moved 0.5% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Our latest available data shows that AJG has returned about 26.1% since the start of the calendar year. At the same time, Finance stocks have gained an average of 13.2%. This shows that Arthur J. Gallagher is outperforming its peers so far this year.

PROG Holdings (PRG - Free Report) is another Finance stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 42.1%.

For PROG Holdings, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 11.3% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Breaking things down more, Arthur J. Gallagher is a member of the Insurance - Brokerage industry, which includes 9 individual companies and currently sits at #32 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 20.5% so far this year, so AJG is performing better in this area.

PROG Holdings, however, belongs to the Financial - Consumer Loans industry. Currently, this 17-stock industry is ranked #32. The industry has moved +18.6% so far this year.

Going forward, investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to Arthur J. Gallagher and PROG Holdings as they could maintain their solid performance.


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