For those looking to find strong Finance stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Is Annaly Capital Management (NLY) 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.

Annaly Capital Management is one of 867 individual stocks in the Finance sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #2 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. Annaly Capital Management is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for NLY's full-year earnings has moved 6.2% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the most recent data, NLY has returned 19.8% so far this year. In comparison, Finance companies have returned an average of 2%. This means that Annaly Capital Management is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

One other Finance stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Bank First Corporation (BFC). The stock is up 2.5% year-to-date.

In Bank First Corporation's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 3% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Breaking things down more, Annaly Capital Management is a member of the REIT and Equity Trust industry, which includes 31 individual companies and currently sits at #207 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 8.5% so far this year, so NLY is performing better in this area.

Bank First Corporation, however, belongs to the Banks - Northeast industry. Currently, this 73-stock industry is ranked #16. The industry has moved -4% so far this year.

Annaly Capital Management and Bank First Corporation could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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