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 Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) 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 view of a large corporate office building, illuminated at night to show its power and reach.
Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 17
Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) is a global retail and commercial bank headquartered in Spain, serving 175 million customers across Europe and the Americas.
The stock’s strong performance in 2025 is primarily due to record first-quarter results, with attributable profit rising 19% to €3.4 billion and earnings per share up 26%. This surge was driven by record net fee income, lower costs, and continued growth in customer numbers, as well as a favorable comparison to the previous year’s temporary Spanish banking levy, which was much lower in 2025.
The bank reaffirmed its 2025 targets. This included a return on tangible equity above 15.8% and robust shareholder returns, which have included substantial share buybacks and cash dividends.
A major catalyst was the February 2025 announcement of a €10 billion share buyback plan, which, together with record fourth-quarter 2024 profits, caused the stock to jump over 7% in a single session. The bank’s guidance for 2025 targets €62 billion in revenue and mid-to-high single-digit net income growth
Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) stock is up 55.94% year-to-date.
Overall SAN ranks 8th on our list of the financial services stocks that are surging in 2025. While we acknowledge the potential of SAN 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 SAN 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.
