Has Columbia Financial (CLBK) Outpaced Other Finance Stocks This Year?

The Finance group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Has Columbia Financial (CLBK) 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.

Columbia Financial is one of 892 individual stocks in the Finance sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #6 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different groups, measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the sector to gauge the strength of each group.

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

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CLBK's full-year earnings has moved 8.6% higher within the past quarter. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

According to our latest data, CLBK has moved about 0.8% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, the Finance sector has returned an average of -8.7% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, Columbia Financial is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Another stock in the Finance sector, CTO Realty (CTO), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 7.5%.

Over the past three months, CTO Realty's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 11%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Columbia Financial belongs to the Financial - Miscellaneous Services industry, a group that includes 55 individual stocks and currently sits at #219 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have lost 8% this year, meaning that CLBK is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

CTO Realty, however, belongs to the REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry. Currently, this 108-stock industry is ranked #162. The industry has moved -12.4% so far this year.

Going forward, investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to Columbia Financial and CTO Realty as they could maintain their solid performance.

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