Is Alerus Financial (ALRS) Stock Outpacing Its Finance Peers This Year?

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

Alerus is a member of our Finance group, which includes 847 different companies and currently sits at #2 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank includes 16 different groups and is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors.

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

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ALRS' full-year earnings has moved 5.6% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

According to our latest data, ALRS has moved about 7.3% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, the Finance sector has returned an average of -6.8% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Alerus 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 BankUnited, Inc. (BKU). The stock has returned 1% year-to-date.

In BankUnited, Inc.'s case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 15.8% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Alerus belongs to the Financial - Miscellaneous Services industry, a group that includes 102 individual stocks and currently sits at #99 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have lost about 17% so far this year, so ALRS is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, BankUnited, Inc. belongs to the Banks - Major Regional industry. This 9-stock industry is currently ranked #32. The industry has moved -2.5% year to date.

Investors with an interest in Finance stocks should continue to track Alerus and BankUnited, Inc.. These stocks will be looking to continue their solid performance.

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

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