Investors interested in Finance stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Is Aegon NV (AEG) 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.

Aegon NV is a member of our Finance group, which includes 858 different companies and currently sits at #4 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 system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. Aegon NV is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AEG's full-year earnings has moved 0.5% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

According to our latest data, AEG has moved about 8% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, stocks in the Finance group have lost about 1% on average. As we can see, Aegon NV is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

One other Finance stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Apollo Commerical Finance (ARI). The stock is up 5% year-to-date.

Over the past three months, Apollo Commerical Finance's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 31%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

To break things down more, Aegon NV belongs to the Insurance - Multi line industry, a group that includes 41 individual companies and currently sits at #34 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has lost an average of 0.3% so far this year, so AEG is performing better in this area.

In contrast, Apollo Commerical Finance falls under the REIT and Equity Trust industry. Currently, this industry has 33 stocks and is ranked #172. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved -7.3%.

Going forward, investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to Aegon NV and Apollo Commerical Finance as they could maintain their solid performance.

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

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