For those looking to find strong Medical stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Agenus (AGEN) is a stock that can certainly grab the attention of many investors, but do its recent returns compare favorably to the sector as a whole? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.
Agenus is a member of our Medical group, which includes 891 different companies and currently sits at #6 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank includes 16 different groups and is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors.
The Zacks Rank is a proven system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. Agenus is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).
Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AGEN's full-year earnings has moved 140.7% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.
Our latest available data shows that AGEN has returned about 52.6% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Medical sector has returned an average of -4.7% on a year-to-date basis. This shows that Agenus is outperforming its peers so far this year.
Another stock in the Medical sector, Apyx Medical (APYX), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 13.7%.
Over the past three months, Apyx Medical's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 12.8%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, Agenus belongs to the Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry, a group that includes 436 individual stocks and currently sits at #94 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 3.6% so far this year, so AGEN is performing better in this area.
On the other hand, Apyx Medical belongs to the Medical - Products industry. This 78-stock industry is currently ranked #167. The industry has moved -13.7% year to date.
Going forward, investors interested in Medical stocks should continue to pay close attention to Agenus and Apyx Medical as they could maintain their solid performance.
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Agenus Inc. (AGEN): Free Stock Analysis Report
Apyx Medical Corporation (APYX): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).