Investors focused on the Finance space have likely heard of SunTrust Banks (STI Quick QuoteSTI - Free Report) , but is the stock performing well in comparison to the rest of its sector peers? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

SunTrust Banks is one of 826 companies in the Finance group. The Finance group currently sits at #9 within the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different groups, measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the sector to gauge the strength of each group.

The Zacks Rank is a proven model that highlights a variety of stocks with the right characteristics to outperform the market over the next one to three months. The system emphasizes earnings estimate revisions and favors companies with improving earnings outlooks. STI is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for STI's full-year earnings has moved 4.73% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

According to our latest data, STI has moved about 4.72% on a year-to-date basis. At the same time, Finance stocks have lost an average of 2.96%. As we can see, SunTrust Banks is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

To break things down more, STI belongs to the Banks - Major Regional industry, a group that includes 16 individual companies and currently sits at #61 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have lost 3.11% this year, meaning that STI is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

STI will likely be looking to continue its solid performance, so investors interested Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to the company.