The 12 Best Financial Stocks to Buy for 2022

 

Financial-sector investors could be in for another year of outperformance. These 12 financial stocks have the best prospects for 2022, say Wall Street's pros.

 

The financial sector was one of the S&P 500's biggest winners last year and market strategists believe the best financial stocks to buy for 2022 will outperform by wide margins once again.

 

In 2021, financial stocks delivered a total return (price appreciation plus dividends) of 35%. Only energy (+55%) and real estate (+46%) generated superior returns. (For context, the S&P 500's total return for 2021 came to +28.7%.)

 

Financial stocks are holding up their end of the bargain in the new year as well. As of Feb. 3, the S&P 500's year-to-date total return came to -6.0%. The index's financial sector, however, delivered a total return of +1.0% over the same span.

 

Rising interest rates – which benefit everything from banks' net interest margins to insurance companies' fixed-income holdings – an accelerating global economic recovery and moderating inflationary pressures are just a few of the tailwinds at the financial sector's back in 2022, analysts say.

 

Be that as it may, not all financial stocks are created equal. A rising tide might lift all boats, but some sector names are forecast to be more buoyant than others. So we turned to Wall Street analysts to find the best financial stocks in the S&P 500 to buy for 2022, using data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

 

Here's how the ratings system works: S&P surveys analysts' stock calls and scores them on a five-point scale, where 1.0 equals a Strong Buy and 5.0 is a Strong Sell. Scores between 3.5 and 2.5 translate into Hold recommendations. Scores higher than 3.5 equate to Sell ratings, while scores equal to or below 2.5 mean that analysts, on average, rate a stock as being a Buy. The closer a score gets to 1.0, the stronger the Buy recommendation.

 

 

From regional banks to multiline insurance firms to massive asset managers, the following 12 names rank as Wall Street's best financial stocks to buy for 2022.

 

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