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Are Finance Stocks Lagging Bank Of Montreal (BMO) This Year?

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For those looking to find strong Finance stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Bank of Montreal (BMO - 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? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Bank of Montreal is one of 895 individual stocks in the Finance sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #3 in 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 successful stock-picking model that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions. The system highlights a number of different stocks that could be poised to outperform the broader market over the next one to three months. Bank of Montreal is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for BMO's full-year earnings has moved 6.3% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

According to our latest data, BMO has moved about 7.7% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, the Finance sector has returned an average of -4.3% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Bank of Montreal is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Another Finance stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is BCB Bancorp (BCBP - Free Report) . The stock has returned 22% year-to-date.

For BCB Bancorp, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 8.7% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Bank of Montreal belongs to the Banks - Foreign industry, which includes 60 individual stocks and currently sits at #159 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 2.5% this year, meaning that BMO is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, BCB Bancorp belongs to the Banks - Northeast industry. This 88-stock industry is currently ranked #31. The industry has moved -4.7% year to date.

Going forward, investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to Bank of Montreal and BCB Bancorp as they could maintain their solid performance.


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