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Is American Express (AXP) Stock Outpacing Its Finance Peers This Year?

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For those looking to find strong Finance stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Is American Express (AXP - Free Report) one of those stocks right now? By taking a look at the stock's year-to-date performance in comparison to its Finance peers, we might be able to answer that question.

American Express is a member of the Finance sector. This group includes 867 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #10. 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 emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find stocks with improving earnings outlooks. This system has a long record of success, and these stocks tend to be on track to beat the market over the next one to three months. AXP is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AXP's full-year earnings has moved 1.54% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Our latest available data shows that AXP has returned about 8.06% since the start of the calendar year. In comparison, Finance companies have returned an average of -3.31%. As we can see, American Express is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

To break things down more, AXP belongs to the Financial - Miscellaneous Services industry, a group that includes 30 individual companies and currently sits at #186 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have lost about 11.02% so far this year, so AXP is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

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


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