The Finance group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Has BlackRock (BLK) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.BlackRock is one of 898 companies in the Finance group. The Finance group currently sits at #4 within the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different groups, measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the sector to gauge the strength of each group.The Zacks Rank is a successful stock-picking model that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions. The system highlights a number of different stocks that could be poised to outperform the broader market over the next one to three months. BLK is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).The Zacks Consensus Estimate for BLK's full-year earnings has moved 9.35% higher within the past quarter. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.Based on the most recent data, BLK has returned 30.28% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Finance group have lost about 13.35% on average. This means that BlackRock is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.Looking more specifically, BLK belongs to the Financial - Investment Management industry, which includes 48 individual stocks and currently sits at #74 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 5.50% so far this year, so BLK is performing better in this area.BLK will likely be looking to continue its solid performance, so investors interested in Finance stocks should continue to pay close attention to the company.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 BlackRock, Inc. (BLK): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research