For those looking to find strong Finance stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Is Assurant (AIZ) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Assurant is a member of our Finance group, which includes 859 different companies and currently sits at #3 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 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. Assurant is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AIZ's full-year earnings has moved 1.7% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the latest available data, AIZ has gained about 16.7% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Finance sector has returned an average of 16.6% on a year-to-date basis. This shows that Assurant is outperforming its peers so far this year.

One other Finance stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is BOC Hong Kong Ltd. (BHKLY). The stock is up 17.7% year-to-date.

For BOC Hong Kong Ltd. the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 2.4% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Breaking things down more, Assurant is a member of the Insurance - Multi line industry, which includes 39 individual companies and currently sits at #44 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 13.8% so far this year, so AIZ is performing better in this area.

BOC Hong Kong Ltd. however, belongs to the Banks - Foreign industry. Currently, this 66-stock industry is ranked #44. The industry has moved +14.5% so far this year.

Assurant and BOC Hong Kong Ltd. could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.

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