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Has BancFirst (BANF) 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. BancFirst (BANF - 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? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Finance sector should help us answer this question.

BancFirst is one of 894 companies in the Finance group. The Finance group currently sits at #6 within the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different groups, measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the sector to gauge the strength of each group.

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. BancFirst is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for BANF's full-year earnings has moved 19.8% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the most recent data, BANF has returned 20% so far this year. In comparison, Finance companies have returned an average of -10.2%. This shows that BancFirst is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Another Finance stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is NexPoint (NREF - Free Report) . The stock has returned 25% year-to-date.

For NexPoint, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 20.3% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

To break things down more, BancFirst belongs to the Banks - Southwest industry, a group that includes 18 individual companies and currently sits at #19 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have lost about 0.6% so far this year, so BANF is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, NexPoint falls under the REIT and Equity Trust industry. Currently, this industry has 36 stocks and is ranked #153. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved -11.3%.

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


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