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Is Citigroup (C) Stock Outpacing Its Finance Peers This Year?

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The Finance group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Is Citigroup (C - Free Report) one of those stocks right now? 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.

Citigroup is a member of our Finance group, which includes 878 different companies and currently sits at #4 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 emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find stocks with improving earnings outlooks. This system has a long record of success, and these stocks tend to be on track to beat the market over the next one to three months. Citigroup is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for C's full-year earnings has moved 5.2% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the latest available data, C has gained about 13.5% so far this year. In comparison, Finance companies have returned an average of 6.9%. As we can see, Citigroup is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Another Finance stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Acadian Asset Management (AAMI - Free Report) . The stock has returned 84% year-to-date.

In Acadian Asset Management's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 4.8% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Looking more specifically, Citigroup belongs to the Financial - Investment Bank industry, a group that includes 22 individual stocks and currently sits at #20 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 9.5% so far this year, so C is performing better in this area.

On the other hand, Acadian Asset Management belongs to the Financial - Miscellaneous Services industry. This 115-stock industry is currently ranked #173. The industry has moved -12% year to date.

Going forward, investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to Citigroup and Acadian Asset Management as they could maintain their solid performance.

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