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Has Cathay General (CATY) Outpaced Other Finance Stocks This Year?

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Investors interested in Finance stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Is Cathay General (CATY - Free Report) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Cathay General is one of 894 individual stocks in the Finance sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #3 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 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. Cathay General is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for CATY's full-year earnings has moved 6.9% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

Based on the latest available data, CATY has gained about 6.3% so far this year. In comparison, Finance companies have returned an average of -1.1%. This means that Cathay General is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Chubb (CB - Free Report) is another Finance stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 10.3%.

Over the past three months, Chubb's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 4%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Breaking things down more, Cathay General is a member of the Banks - West industry, which includes 32 individual companies and currently sits at #23 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have lost about 8.6% so far this year, so CATY is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

Chubb, however, belongs to the Insurance - Property and Casualty industry. Currently, this 40-stock industry is ranked #76. The industry has moved +15.6% so far this year.

Cathay General and Chubb could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.


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