Investors interested in Medical stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Is Avantor, Inc. (AVTR) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.
Avantor, Inc. is a member of our Medical group, which includes 914 different companies and currently sits at #6 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different groups, measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the sector to gauge the strength of each group.
The Zacks Rank emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find stocks with improving earnings outlooks. This system has a long record of success, and these stocks tend to be on track to beat the market over the next one to three months. Avantor, Inc. is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AVTR's full-year earnings has moved 2.6% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.
According to our latest data, AVTR has moved about 20.2% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, the Medical sector has returned an average of 0.1% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, Avantor, Inc. is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.
Another Medical stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). The stock has returned 23.9% year-to-date.
The consensus estimate for Johnson & Johnson's current year EPS has increased 1% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, Avantor, Inc. belongs to the Medical Services industry, a group that includes 72 individual stocks and currently sits at #73 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have lost 1% this year, meaning that AVTR is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.
On the other hand, Johnson & Johnson belongs to the Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry. This 11-stock industry is currently ranked #234. The industry has moved +9.9% year to date.
Avantor, Inc. and Johnson & Johnson could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Medical stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).