We recently published an article titled Why These 15 Financial Services Stocks Are Surging In 2025. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (NYSE:BBVA) stands against the other financial services stocks.
The financial services sector has entered 2025 on a wave of strong performance and renewed investor interest. This sector consists of banking, payments, insurance, and asset management and is a cornerstone of the global economy.
These stocks didn’t do too well during the 2022 downturn, as there was uncertainty regarding whether or not the Federal Reserve would bail out regional banks. However, after the “mini banking crisis” calmed down, these stocks have performed quite well despite the macro trends being uncertain. And for some stocks, that momentum has been even stronger so far this year. It’s worth looking at why.
Even during bear markets, there are pockets of the market that perform exceptionally well. For example, I identified 15 Real Estate Stocks that are up the Most in 2025 in another article.
Methodology
For this article, I screened the best-performing financial services stocks year-to-date.
I will also mention the number of hedge fund investors in these stocks. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
A businessman making a powerful speech in a boardroom, symbolizing the company’s successful asset management.
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (NYSE:BBVA)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 12
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (NYSE:BBVA) is a Spanish multinational financial services group that provides retail banking, corporate lending, asset management, and investment advisory services across Europe, Latin America, and Turkey.
The stock is up significantly so far in 2025, primarily because of a blowout first quarter, where net attributable profit jumped 23% year-over-year to €2.7 billion, return on equity hit 19.3%, and earnings per share rose 24% to €0.45.
Revenue and earnings both beat analyst expectations, with revenue up 3.9% and profit margin expanding from 29% to 34%. The bank’s tangible book value per share plus dividends increased by 14.1% year-over-year, and loan growth was especially strong, up 15.1% at the group level, with Mexico and Spain leading the way.
Management has emphasized that, while results are strong, they are not upgrading 2025 guidance due to ongoing uncertainty around US tariffs and their impact on Mexico, BBVA’s largest profit center.
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (NYSE:BBVA) stock is up 46.59% year-to-date.
Overall BBVA ranks 15th on our list of the financial services stocks that are surging in 2025. While we acknowledge the potential of BBVA as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than BBVA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
