For those looking to find strong Finance stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Cedar Realty Trust (CDR) is a stock that can certainly grab the attention of many investors, but do its recent returns compare favorably to the sector as a whole? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Cedar Realty Trust is one of 889 companies in the Finance group. The Finance group currently sits at #5 within the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank gauges the strength of our 16 individual sector groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups.

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. Cedar Realty Trust is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for CDR's full-year earnings has moved 3.6% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Our latest available data shows that CDR has returned about 14.7% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Finance sector has returned an average of -16.7% on a year-to-date basis. This shows that Cedar Realty Trust is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Cigna (CI) is another Finance stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 16.7%.

Over the past three months, Cigna's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 0.9%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, Cedar Realty Trust belongs to the REIT and Equity Trust - Other industry, a group that includes 106 individual companies and currently sits at #91 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has lost an average of 17.9% so far this year, meaning that CDR is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

Cigna, however, belongs to the Insurance - Multi line industry. Currently, this 33-stock industry is ranked #141. The industry has moved -5.3% so far this year.

Cedar Realty Trust and Cigna could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.

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