We recently compiled a list of the 13 Best Performing Bank Stocks So Far In 2025. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft (NYSE:DB) stands against the other best performing bank stocks.
The banking sector seems to be performing well in 2025 as the economy has been stronger than expected. Banking and financial services companies are taking more chances and investing in growth, especially in AI. At the same time, central banks around the world continue to lower interest rates, which is further helping the banks.
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In December 2024, Seana Smith, the anchor of Yahoo Finance’s morning show, pointed out that it might be a good time to buy bank stocks. Heading into 2025, that was the overwhelming consensus among well-known strategists. The reasons for optimism around bank stocks included a strong economy, expected deregulation under President-elect Donald Trump, attractive stock prices, and lower interest rates.
Brian Belski, Chief Investment Strategist and leader of the Investment Strategy Group at BMO Capital Markets, noted in his 2025 outlook that financial stocks are still “drastically unloved,” despite compelling valuations and strong earnings growth expectations. Aadil Zaman from Wall Street Alliance Group mentioned that the Federal Reserve’s expected drop in interest rates would result in greater investment banking activity.
Another reason for the sky-high enthusiasm was that historically, financial stocks have performed well under Republican administrations because of expectations for looser regulation, which creates a more favorable environment for banks.
Methodology
To compile our list of the 13 best-performing bank stocks so far in 2025, we used the Finviz stock screener to look for bank companies with the best year-to-date performance. We narrowed down our list by looking for the best-performing stocks with a market capitalization of more than $2 billion. The 13 best-performing bank stocks so far in 2025 were then ranked in ascending order based on their year-to-date performance as of February 14, 2025.
Additionally, we mentioned the hedge fund sentiment surrounding the best-performing stocks, which was taken from Insider Monkey’s Q3 2024 database of 900 elite hedge funds.
Why do we care about what hedge funds do? 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 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
A view of a busy banking hall, customers engaging with banking staff to conduct their financial transactions.
Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft (NYSE:DB)
Year-to-Date Performance: 17.69%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 12
Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft (NYSE:DB) is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company that offers retail and private banking, corporate and transaction banking, lending, and asset and wealth management products and services. Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE:DB) also provides focused investment banking to private individuals, small and medium-sized companies, corporations, and institutional investors. DB is one of the best-performing stocks in the banking sector.
The company is strategically focused on enhancing profitability by optimizing its business model and reallocating capital where necessary. This includes reviewing lending portfolios and investing in technology and automation to increase operational efficiency. Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE:DB) is making good progress on its EUR 2.5 billion operational efficiency program. The bank is streamlining its platform in Germany and reducing its workforce, notably in roles that do not engage directly with clients. By the end of 2024, Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE:DB) had realized or expected savings of EUR 1.8 billion to achieve around 75% of the program’s total savings goal.
Overall, DB ranks 13th on our list of the best-performing bank stocks so far in 2025. While we acknowledge the potential of DB as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than DB but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.