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Is MFA Financial (MFA) Outperforming Other Finance Stocks This Year?

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Investors focused on the Finance space have likely heard of MFA Financial (MFA - Free Report) , but is the stock performing well in comparison to the rest of its sector peers? 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.

MFA Financial is one of 824 individual stocks in the Finance sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #11 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank includes 16 different groups and is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors.

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

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for MFA's full-year earnings has moved 7.89% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

Our latest available data shows that MFA has returned about 0.38% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Finance group have lost about 0.72% on average. As we can see, MFA Financial is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Looking more specifically, MFA belongs to the REIT and Equity Trust industry, a group that includes 31 individual stocks and currently sits at #106 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 4.84% this year, meaning that MFA is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.

Going forward, investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to MFA as it looks to continue its solid performance.


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