Are Medical Stocks Lagging Arbutus Biopharma (ABUS) This Year?

The Medical group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Arbutus Biopharma (ABUS) 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.

Arbutus Biopharma is one of 960 individual stocks in the Medical sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #3 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank gauges the strength of our 16 individual sector groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups.

The Zacks Rank is a proven model that highlights a variety of stocks with the right characteristics to outperform the market over the next one to three months. The system emphasizes earnings estimate revisions and favors companies with improving earnings outlooks. Arbutus Biopharma is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ABUS' full-year earnings has moved 15.6% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Our latest available data shows that ABUS has returned about 37.3% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Medical group have gained about 2.5% on average. This means that Arbutus Biopharma is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Another stock in the Medical sector, Boston Scientific (BSX), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 7.7%.

Over the past three months, Boston Scientific's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 2.1%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Arbutus Biopharma belongs to the Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry, which includes 472 individual stocks and currently sits at #74 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 8.8% this year, meaning that ABUS is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, Boston Scientific falls under the Medical - Products industry. Currently, this industry has 84 stocks and is ranked #77. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +4.8%.

Investors with an interest in Medical stocks should continue to track Arbutus Biopharma and Boston Scientific. These stocks will be looking to continue their solid performance.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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