Investors interested in Finance stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Is Banco Santander (SAN) 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.
Banco Santander is a member of the Finance sector. This group includes 870 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #16. 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 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. Banco Santander is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for SAN's full-year earnings has moved 7.8% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.
Based on the latest available data, SAN has gained about 18% so far this year. In comparison, Finance companies have returned an average of 3.4%. This means that Banco Santander is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.
One other Finance stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Credicorp (BAP). The stock is up 9.3% year-to-date.
The consensus estimate for Credicorp's current year EPS has increased 3.8% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
To break things down more, Banco Santander belongs to the Banks - Foreign industry, a group that includes 67 individual companies and currently sits at #108 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 9.2% so far this year, meaning that SAN is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns. Credicorp is also part of the same industry.
Banco Santander and Credicorp could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
