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Are Finance Stocks Lagging American Financial Group (AFG) 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. Has American Financial Group (AFG - 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.

American Financial Group is one of 893 individual stocks in the Finance sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #5 in 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 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. American Financial Group is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AFG's full-year earnings has moved 9.8% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Based on the most recent data, AFG has returned 0.7% so far this year. At the same time, Finance stocks have lost an average of 8.7%. This shows that American Financial Group is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Another Finance stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is FS KKR Capital (FSK - Free Report) . The stock has returned 4.1% year-to-date.

Over the past three months, FS KKR Capital's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 7.7%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Breaking things down more, American Financial Group is a member of the Insurance - Property and Casualty industry, which includes 40 individual companies and currently sits at #97 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 6.6% so far this year, meaning that AFG is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.

FS KKR Capital, however, belongs to the Financial - SBIC & Commercial Industry industry. Currently, this 36-stock industry is ranked #90. The industry has moved -4.7% so far this year.

Investors interested in the Finance sector may want to keep a close eye on American Financial Group and FS KKR Capital as they attempt to continue their solid performance.


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