The Finance group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Is Banner (BANR) one of those stocks right now? By taking a look at the stock's year-to-date performance in comparison to its Finance peers, we might be able to answer that question.Banner is a member of the Finance sector. This group includes 887 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #4. 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 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. Banner is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for BANR's full-year earnings has moved 9.3% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.Our latest available data shows that BANR has returned about 0.6% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Finance group have lost about 12.8% on average. As we can see, Banner is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.One other Finance stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Blackstone Mortgage Trust (BXMT). The stock is up 1.7% year-to-date.For Blackstone Mortgage Trust, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 7.8% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).To break things down more, Banner belongs to the Financial - Savings and Loan industry, a group that includes 32 individual companies and currently sits at #22 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has lost an average of 10.3% so far this year, so BANR is performing better in this area.In contrast, Blackstone Mortgage Trust falls under the REIT and Equity Trust industry. Currently, this industry has 36 stocks and is ranked #95. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved -10.4%.Going forward, investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to Banner and Blackstone Mortgage Trust as they could maintain their solid performance. 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days Just released: Experts distill 7 elite stocks from the current list of 220 Zacks Rank #1 Strong Buys. They deem these tickers "Most Likely for Early Price Pops." Since 1988, the full list has beaten the market more than 2X over with an average gain of +24.8% per year. So be sure to give these hand-picked 7 your immediate attention. See them now >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Banner Corporation (BANR): Free Stock Analysis Report Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (BXMT): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research