Are Finance Stocks Lagging Ares Commercial Real Estate (ACRE) This Year?

The Finance group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Is Ares Commercial Real Estate (ACRE) one of those stocks right now? By taking a look at the stock's year-to-date performance in comparison to its Finance peers, we might be able to answer that question.

Ares Commercial Real Estate is one of 848 companies in the Finance group. The Finance group currently sits at #4 within the Zacks Sector Rank. 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 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. Ares Commercial Real Estate is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ACRE's full-year earnings has moved 1533.3% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

According to our latest data, ACRE has moved about 9% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, stocks in the Finance group have lost about 1.3% on average. This means that Ares Commercial Real Estate is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

Another Finance stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is BancFirst (BANF). The stock has returned 6.5% year-to-date.

In BancFirst's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 0.4% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Ares Commercial Real Estate belongs to the REIT and Equity Trust industry, a group that includes 31 individual stocks and currently sits at #205 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 1.7% so far this year, so ACRE is performing better in this area.

On the other hand, BancFirst belongs to the Banks - Southwest industry. This 19-stock industry is currently ranked #35. The industry has moved +3.6% year to date.

Investors interested in the Finance sector may want to keep a close eye on Ares Commercial Real Estate and BancFirst as they attempt to continue their solid performance.