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Are Finance Stocks Lagging Prologis (PLD) This Year?

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Investors interested in Finance stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Prologis (PLD - 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.

Prologis is one of 831 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 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. Prologis is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for PLD's full-year earnings has moved 0.7% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the latest available data, PLD has gained about 10.1% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Finance sector has returned an average of 3.6% on a year-to-date basis. This shows that Prologis is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Another Finance stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Atlanticus Holdings Corporation (ATLC - Free Report) . The stock has returned 49.5% year-to-date.

In Atlanticus Holdings Corporation's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 11.8% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

To break things down more, Prologis belongs to the REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry, a group that includes 90 individual companies and currently sits at #72 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 10% so far this year, meaning that PLD is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, Atlanticus Holdings Corporation falls under the Financial - Miscellaneous Services industry. Currently, this industry has 107 stocks and is ranked #106. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved -6.5%.

Prologis and Atlanticus Holdings Corporation could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.

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