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Has Morgan Stanley (MS) Outpaced Other Finance Stocks 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. Morgan Stanley (MS - Free Report) is a stock that can certainly grab the attention of many investors, but do its recent returns compare favorably to the sector as a whole? One simple way to answer this question is to take a look at the year-to-date performance of MS and the rest of the Finance group's stocks.

Morgan Stanley is a member of the Finance sector. This group includes 890 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #12. 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 system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. MS is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for MS's full-year earnings has moved 37.96% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

According to our latest data, MS has moved about 2.23% on a year-to-date basis. In comparison, Finance companies have returned an average of -14.25%. This means that Morgan Stanley is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Looking more specifically, MS belongs to the Financial - Investment Bank industry, a group that includes 20 individual stocks and currently sits at #44 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have lost about 6.70% so far this year, so MS is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

Investors in the Finance sector will want to keep a close eye on MS as it attempts to continue its solid performance.


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