The Finance group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Is Legg Mason one of those stocks right now? 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.

Legg Mason is one of 856 companies in the Finance group. The Finance group currently sits at #9 within 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 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. LM is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for LM's full-year earnings has moved 16.49% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Our latest available data shows that LM has returned about 38.42% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Finance group have gained about 10.81% on average. This means that Legg Mason is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

Looking more specifically, LM belongs to the Financial - Investment Management industry, which includes 52 individual stocks and currently sits at #31 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 15.80% so far this year, so LM is performing better in this area.

Investors with an interest in Finance stocks should continue to track LM. The stock will be looking to continue its solid performance.