Are Finance Stocks Lagging BancFirst (BANF) This Year?

Investors interested in Finance stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. BancFirst (BANF) 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? 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.

BancFirst is one of 870 companies in the Finance group. The Finance group currently sits at #8 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. BancFirst is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for BANF's full-year earnings has moved 8.3% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

According to our latest data, BANF has moved about 10.8% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, stocks in the Finance group have gained about 9% on average. This means that BancFirst is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Another Finance stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Capital City Bank (CCBG). The stock has returned 11.4% year-to-date.

For Capital City Bank, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 9.2% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, BancFirst belongs to the Banks - Southwest industry, a group that includes 19 individual stocks and currently sits at #51 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 3.8% so far this year, meaning that BANF is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, Capital City Bank falls under the Banks - Southeast industry. Currently, this industry has 54 stocks and is ranked #57. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +4.3%.

BancFirst and Capital City Bank could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

Zacks Investment Research

Source Zacks-com