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Are Finance Stocks Lagging Aflac (AFL) This Year?

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The Finance group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Has Aflac (AFL - Free Report) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Aflac is one of 872 individual stocks in the Finance sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #11 in the Zacks Sector Rank. 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 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. Aflac is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AFL's full-year earnings has moved 0.3% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

According to our latest data, AFL has moved about 2.6% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, stocks in the Finance group have lost about 12.7% on average. This shows that Aflac is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Another Finance stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is FS KKR Capital (FSK - Free Report) . The stock has returned 3.8% year-to-date.

For FS KKR Capital, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 6.4% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Looking more specifically, Aflac belongs to the Insurance - Accident and Health industry, a group that includes 5 individual stocks and currently sits at #21 in the Zacks Industry Rank.


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Aflac Incorporated (AFL) - free report >>

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