5 Financial Stocks Analysts Love
The Financial Select Sector SPDR , a popular exchange-traded fund that tracks financial stocks, was down less than 7% year to date close to the end of trading Monday, versus a more than 4% gain for the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Which financial stocks do the analysts like best? There is a ranking system to give you the answer.

Bloomberg assigns stocks a number from one to five based on each analyst's recommendation, then calculates the average to show how Wall Street analysts as a group rate a particular stock. A rating of five would mean every analyst that covers the stock loves it, while a rating of one means every analyst hates the stock.

TheStreet took a look at the 83 financial stocks in the S&P 500 to see how analysts rate them. Keep in mind that analysts may recommend a stock even if they think the company is badly run, has poor growth prospects, or a bunch of bad loans sitting on its books that it isn't owning up to, as long as it's cheap enough.

Also remember that analysts tend to be bullish as a group, mostly because they are afraid putting a "sell" on a stock may cause management to shut them out of the information loop.

Here are the five they like best. (And don't miss the financial stocks analysts hate.)

5. PNC Financial

Analyst consensus rating: 4.57

Pittsburgh-based PNC has one of the healthier balance sheets among U.S. banks, and had been widely expected to try to capitalize on the distressed environment in the banking industry to go out and make some acquisitions. Indeed, the bank surprised many industry observers Friday when it emerged as the winning bidder for the Royal Bank of Canada 's U.S. subsidiary, headquartered in Raleigh, N.C. Investors appeared not to like the deal much, driving down PNC shares by 2.82% on Friday.

4. ACE

Analyst consensus rating: 4.59

Noting ACE's anticipated 2011 return on equity of roughly 9.3%, compared to an average of about 7.6% for ACE's main competitors, Sandler O'Neill analyst Paul Newsome argues the stock should trade at a slightly higher valuation to peers. However, Newsome argued in a recent report following a meeting with the insurer's management that "it may take the stock market a while to recognize ACE's value."