For those looking to find strong Finance stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Has Banco Bilbao (BBVA) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Banco Bilbao is a member of our Finance group, which includes 857 different companies and currently sits at #6 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 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 Bilbao is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for BBVA's full-year earnings has moved 14.5% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

Our latest available data shows that BBVA has returned about 57.7% since the start of the calendar year. At the same time, Finance stocks have gained an average of 3.9%. This means that Banco Bilbao is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

Another Finance stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Bank First Corporation (BFC). The stock has returned 16.8% year-to-date.

In Bank First Corporation's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 5.1% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Breaking things down more, Banco Bilbao is a member of the Banks - Foreign industry, which includes 66 individual companies and currently sits at #20 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 21.2% so far this year, so BBVA is performing better in this area.

On the other hand, Bank First Corporation belongs to the Banks - Northeast industry. This 73-stock industry is currently ranked #68. The industry has moved -7.2% year to date.

Investors interested in the Finance sector may want to keep a close eye on Banco Bilbao and Bank First Corporation as they attempt to continue their solid performance.

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Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria S.A. (BBVA):Free Stock Analysis Report

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Bank First National Corporation (BFC):Free Stock Analysis Report

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

Zacks Investment Research

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