This week, Zacks Chief Equity Strategist and Economist John Blank, PhD discusses:

• Top stocks in the Finance sector, including Major Banks, Banks and Thrifts, Finance (including the credit card industry), and Insurance. Before diving into the analysis, John discusses the latest trends and developments in this sector, ranging from consolidation and mergers to AI-driven services, decentralized banking solutions and crypto, rising rates and Federal regulations, and more.

• As John has done in previous analyses, he defines “top” stocks in three ways: by market capitalization, by number of analysts following the stock, and by largest percent change in F1 EPS estimate (the most important element used in assigning a Zacks Rank to stocks).

• With this framework, John examines key metrics for stocks in these industries, including Return on Equity TTM %, EPS F12M, Net Margin TTM%, Enterprise Value/Sales F12M and many more. Stocks mentioned in today’s discussion include household names such as HSBC Holdings plc (HSBC), Discover Financial Services (DFS), and Allstate Corp (ALL), plus less familiar but relevant companies such as ICICI Bank Ltd (IBN), First Foundation Inc (FFWM), Loandepot Inc (LDI), and many other important and active players in the Finance arena.

The views of John Blank, PhD are not necessarily the views of Zacks Investment Research.