The Finance group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Is Alexandria Real Estate Equities (ARE Quick QuoteARE - 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.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities is a member of the Finance sector. This group includes 883 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #14. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different sector groups. The average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups is measured, and the sectors are listed from best to worst.

The Zacks Rank is a successful stock-picking model that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions. The system highlights a number of different stocks that could be poised to outperform the broader market over the next one to three months. ARE is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ARE's full-year earnings has moved 0.27% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Our latest available data shows that ARE has returned about 0.15% since the start of the calendar year. In comparison, Finance companies have returned an average of -22.51%. As we can see, Alexandria Real Estate Equities is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Looking more specifically, ARE belongs to the REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry, a group that includes 117 individual stocks and currently sits at #174 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have lost about 10.90% so far this year, so ARE is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

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