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Are Finance Stocks Lagging First Citizens BancShares (FCNCA) 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 First Citizens BancShares (FCNCA - Free Report) one of those stocks right now? By taking a look at the stock's year-to-date performance in comparison to its Finance peers, we might be able to answer that question.

First Citizens BancShares is one of 847 companies in the Finance group. The Finance group currently sits at #10 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 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. First Citizens BancShares is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for FCNCA's full-year earnings has moved 6.7% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Our latest available data shows that FCNCA has returned about 87.2% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Finance group have gained about 9.4% on average. As we can see, First Citizens BancShares is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Brown & Brown (BRO - 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 30.8%.

Over the past three months, Brown & Brown's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 2.1%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Breaking things down more, First Citizens BancShares is a member of the Banks - Southeast industry, which includes 61 individual companies and currently sits at #69 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has lost an average of 4.9% so far this year, meaning that FCNCA is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, Brown & Brown belongs to the Insurance - Brokerage industry. This 8-stock industry is currently ranked #10. The industry has moved +18.3% year to date.

First Citizens BancShares and Brown & Brown could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.


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