Investors focused on the Finance space have likely heard of Morgan Stanley (MS Quick QuoteMS - 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.

Morgan Stanley is one of 900 companies in the Finance group. The Finance group currently sits at #3 within the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different sector groups. The average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups is measured, and the sectors are listed from best to worst.

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 #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for MS's full-year earnings has moved 12.95% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

According to our latest data, MS has moved about 17.79% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, stocks in the Finance group have gained about 13.24% on average. This means that Morgan Stanley is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

To break things down more, MS belongs to the Financial - Investment Bank industry, a group that includes 17 individual companies and currently sits at #4 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 23.78% so far this year, so MS is slightly underperforming its industry this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

Going forward, investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to MS as it looks to continue its solid performance.