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

Two out of the three major indices are trading up today with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) trading up 32 points (0.2%) at 14,286 as of Wednesday, March 6, 2013, 11:50 AM ET. The NYSE advances/declines ratio sits at 1,509 issues advancing vs. 1,334 declining with 158 unchanged.

The Financial sector currently sits up 0.1% versus the S&P 500, which is up 0.1%. Top gainers within the sector include Regions Financial Corporation (RF), up 3.2%, Bank of America Corporation (BAC), up 2.5%, Aegon (AEG), up 2.5%, ING Groep N.V (ING), up 2.0% and KeyCorp (KEY), up 2.0%. On the negative front, top decliners within the sector include Lloyds Banking Group (LYG), down 1.9%, Banco Santander (SAN), down 1.3%, Royal Bank of Scotland Group (The (RBS), down 1.6%, Vornado Realty (VNO), down 1.1% and Morgan Stanley (MS), down 0.8%.

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

5. CME Group (CME) is one of the companies pushing the Financial sector higher today. As of noon trading, CME Group is up $0.83 (1.4%) to $62.01 on light volume Thus far, 717,448 shares of CME Group exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 2.3 million shares. The stock has ranged in price between $61.29-$62.16 after having opened the day at $61.32 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $61.18.

CME Group Inc. operates the CME, CBOT, NYMEX and COMEX futures exchanges worldwide. The company provides a range of products across various asset classes, such as interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities, metals, weather, and real estate. CME Group has a market cap of $20.3 billion and is part of the financial services industry. The company has a P/E ratio of 22.5, above the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Shares are up 20.2% year to date as of the close of trading on Tuesday. Currently there are 7 analysts that rate CME Group a buy, 3 analysts rate it a sell, and 5 rate it a hold.

TheStreet Ratings rates CME Group as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its expanding profit margins and largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had sub par growth in net income. Get the full CME Group Ratings Report now.

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