5 Stocks Pushing The Financial Sector Higher

Editor's Note: TheStreet ratings do not represent the views of TheStreet's staff or its contributors. Ratings are established by computer based on metrics for performance (which includes growth, stock performance, efficiency and valuation) and risk (volatility and solvency). Companies with poor cash flow or high debt levels tend to earn lower ratings in our model

All three major indices are trading up today with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) trading up 83 points (0.6%) at 13,218 as of Monday, Dec. 17, 2012, 11:50 AM ET. The NYSE advances/declines ratio sits at 1,993 issues advancing vs. 968 declining with 126 unchanged.

The Financial sector currently sits up 0.6% versus the S&P 500, which is up 0.9%. Top gainers within the sector include PNC Financial Services Group (PNC), up 2.8%, BB&T (BBT), up 2.6%, Goldman Sachs Group (GS), up 2.4%, Nomura Holdings (NMR), up 2.5% and T. Rowe Price Group (TROW), up 2.3%. A company within the sector that fell today was Banco Santander (SAN), up 0.8%.

TheStreet Ratings group would like to highlight 5 stocks pushing the sector higher today:

5. Wells Fargo (WFC) is one of the companies pushing the Financial sector higher today. As of noon trading, Wells Fargo is up $0.98 (3.0%) to $34.14 on average volume Thus far, 13.4 million shares of Wells Fargo exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 25.2 million shares. The stock has ranged in price between $33.25-$34.15 after having opened the day at $33.25 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $33.15.

Wells Fargo & Company provides retail, commercial, and corporate banking services. The company operates in three segments: Community Banking; Wholesale Banking; and Wealth, Brokerage, and Retirement. Wells Fargo has a market cap of $175.1 billion and is part of the banking industry. The company has a P/E ratio of 10.5, below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Shares are up 20.7% year to date as of the close of trading on Friday. Currently there are 19 analysts that rate Wells Fargo a buy, 1 analyst rates it a sell, and 7 rate it a hold.

TheStreet Ratings rates Wells Fargo as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its solid stock price performance, impressive record of earnings per share growth, compelling growth in net income, revenue growth and good cash flow from operations. Although no company is perfect, currently we do not see any significant weaknesses which are likely to detract from the generally positive outlook. Get the full Wells Fargo Ratings Report now.

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