The Finance group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Is Sierra Bancorp (BSRR) 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.

Sierra Bancorp is one of 871 companies in the Finance group. The Finance group currently sits at #1 within 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 emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find stocks with improving earnings outlooks. This system has a long record of success, and these stocks tend to be on track to beat the market over the next one to three months. Sierra Bancorp is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for BSRR's full-year earnings has moved 1.1% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Our latest available data shows that BSRR has returned about 28.8% since the start of the calendar year. In comparison, Finance companies have returned an average of 18.8%. This means that Sierra Bancorp is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

Another stock in the Finance sector, Central Pacific Financial (CPF), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 44.8%.

For Central Pacific Financial, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 3.9% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, Sierra Bancorp belongs to the Banks - West industry, a group that includes 29 individual companies and currently sits at #58 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 15.7% so far this year, meaning that BSRR is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns. Central Pacific Financial is also part of the same industry.

Sierra Bancorp and Central Pacific Financial could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.

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