Are Finance Stocks Lagging Manulife Financial Corp (MFC) This Year?

For those looking to find strong Finance stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Is Manulife Financial (MFC) 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.

Manulife Financial is one of 870 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 proven system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. Manulife Financial is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for MFC’s full-year earnings has moved 0.7% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock’s earnings outlook is more positive.

Based on the most recent data, MFC has returned 8.7% so far this year. At the same time, Finance stocks have gained an average of 8.1%. This shows that Manulife Financial is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Another stock in the Finance sector, Banco Do Brasil SA (BDORY), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock’s year-to-date return is 16.8%.

In Banco Do Brasil SA’s case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 6.7% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Breaking things down more, Manulife Financial is a member of the Insurance – Life Insurance industry, which includes 13 individual companies and currently sits at #64 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 10.3% so far this year, meaning that MFC is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, Banco Do Brasil SA falls under the Banks – Foreign industry. Currently, this industry has 67 stocks and is ranked #9. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +10.4%.

Investors with an interest in Finance stocks should continue to track Manulife Financial and Banco Do Brasil SA. These stocks will be looking to continue their solid performance.

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