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 Santander-Chile (BSAC) 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 Santander-Chile is a member of the Finance sector. This group includes 857 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #7. The Zacks Sector Rank gauges the strength of our 16 individual sector groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups.

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. Banco Santander-Chile is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for BSAC's full-year earnings has moved 7.3% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the most recent data, BSAC has returned 34% so far this year. In comparison, Finance companies have returned an average of 6.1%. This means that Banco Santander-Chile is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

Berkshire Hathaway B (BRK.B) is another Finance stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 13%.

In Berkshire Hathaway B's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 2.7% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Banco Santander-Chile belongs to the Banks - Foreign industry, a group that includes 66 individual stocks and currently sits at #18 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 21.7% so far this year, so BSAC is performing better in this area.

In contrast, Berkshire Hathaway B falls under the Insurance - Property and Casualty industry. Currently, this industry has 43 stocks and is ranked #46. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +12.6%.

Banco Santander-Chile and Berkshire Hathaway B could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.

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Banco Santander Chile (BSAC):Free Stock Analysis Report

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Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B):Free Stock Analysis Report

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

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