For the past six months, bank stocks have lagged the S&P 500. Currently, many of these names are out of favor. This isn't a big surprise: financial stocks tend to underperform during the late-cycle phase of the economic business cycle. Investors, sensing an inevitable economic slowdown, begin to migrate into less-cyclical, more-defensive stocks.
If one accepts this backdrop, now is the time to begin thinking about what financial stocks to own. Value investors seek the stocks of good companies that most everyone hates today.
I contend Bank OZK (OZK) is one to consider.