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Is Morgan Stanley (MS) Outperforming Other Finance Stocks This Year?

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Investors focused on the Finance space have likely heard of Morgan Stanley (MS - Free Report) , but is the stock performing well in comparison to the rest of its sector peers? 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.

Morgan Stanley is one of 831 companies in the Finance group. The Finance group currently sits at #6 within the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different sector groups. The average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups is measured, and the sectors are listed from best to worst.

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. MS is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for MS's full-year earnings has moved 4.69% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Our latest available data shows that MS has returned about 4.90% since the start of the calendar year. At the same time, Finance stocks have lost an average of 0.03%. This means that Morgan Stanley is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

Breaking things down more, MS is a member of the Financial - Investment Bank industry, which includes 22 individual companies and currently sits at #34 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 8.16% so far this year, meaning that MS is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.

Going forward, investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to MS as it looks to continue its solid performance.


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