For those looking to find strong Finance stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Has Bank of America (BAC Quick QuoteBAC - Free Report) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Bank of America is one of 887 individual stocks in the Finance sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #2 in 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 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. BAC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for BAC's full-year earnings has moved 19.69% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Based on the latest available data, BAC has gained about 9.17% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Finance sector has returned an average of 6.09% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Bank of America is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

Looking more specifically, BAC belongs to the Banks - Major Regional industry, which includes 15 individual stocks and currently sits at #42 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 8.46% this year, meaning that BAC is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

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