Has Annaly Capital Management (NLY) Outpaced Other Finance Stocks This Year?

For those looking to find strong Finance stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Annaly Capital Management (NLY) is a stock that can certainly grab the attention of many investors, but do its recent returns compare favorably to the sector as a whole? One simple way to answer this question is to take a look at the year-to-date performance of NLY and the rest of the Finance group's stocks.

Annaly Capital Management is one of 839 companies in the Finance group. The Finance group currently sits at #5 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 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. NLY is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for NLY's full-year earnings has moved 2.26% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

According to our latest data, NLY has moved about 1.80% on a year-to-date basis. In comparison, Finance companies have returned an average of -7.34%. This shows that Annaly Capital Management is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Breaking things down more, NLY is a member of the REIT and Equity Trust industry, which includes 30 individual companies and currently sits at #169 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 2.03% so far this year, meaning that NLY is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.

NLY will likely be looking to continue its solid performance, so investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to the company.