For those looking to find strong Finance stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Has Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) been one of those stocks this year? 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.
Bank of Nova Scotia is one of 837 companies in the Finance group. The Finance group currently sits at #5 within the Zacks Sector Rank. 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. Bank of Nova Scotia is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for BNS’ full-year earnings has moved 4.7% higher within the past quarter. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company’s earnings outlook is stronger.
Based on the latest available data, BNS has gained about 0% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Finance sector has returned an average of -1.5% on a year-to-date basis. This shows that Bank of Nova Scotia is outperforming its peers so far this year.
Another Finance stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Atlanticus Holdings Corporation (ATLC). The stock has returned 0.2% year-to-date.
The consensus estimate for Atlanticus Holdings Corporation’s current year EPS has increased 1.4% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, Bank of Nova Scotia belongs to the Banks – Foreign industry, a group that includes 66 individual stocks and currently sits at #87 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 4.4% this year, meaning that BNS is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.
In contrast, Atlanticus Holdings Corporation falls under the Financial – Miscellaneous Services industry. Currently, this industry has 107 stocks and is ranked #95. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved -11.5%.
Going forward, investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to Bank of Nova Scotia and Atlanticus Holdings Corporation as they could maintain their solid performance.
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