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Is Franklin Resources Inc (BEN) Outperforming 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. Has Franklin Templeton (BEN - Free Report) been one of those stocks this year? 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.

Franklin Templeton is a member of the Finance sector. This group includes 873 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #7. The Zacks Sector Rank gauges the strength of our 16 individual sector groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups.

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

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for BEN's full-year earnings has moved 4% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Our latest available data shows that BEN has returned about 37% since the start of the calendar year. At the same time, Finance stocks have gained an average of 5%. As we can see, Franklin Templeton is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Another stock in the Finance sector, Bank of Montreal (BMO - Free Report) , has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 33%.

Over the past three months, Bank of Montreal's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 15.5%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Franklin Templeton belongs to the Financial - Investment Management industry, which includes 37 individual stocks and currently sits at #103 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have lost about 11.7% so far this year, so BEN is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, Bank of Montreal belongs to the Banks - Foreign industry. This 85-stock industry is currently ranked #60. The industry has moved +17% year to date.

Going forward, investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to Franklin Templeton and Bank of Montreal as they could maintain their solid performance.

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