The Medical group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Is Novavax (NVAX) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.
Novavax 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 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 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. Novavax is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).
Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for NVAX's full-year earnings has moved 6.7% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.
Based on the latest available data, NVAX has gained about 14.6% so far this year. In comparison, Medical companies have returned an average of 0.9%. This means that Novavax is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.
Addus HomeCare (ADUS) is another Medical stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 8.5%.
For Addus HomeCare, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 0% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
To break things down more, Novavax belongs to the Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry, a group that includes 439 individual companies and currently sits at #106 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 3.5% so far this year, so NVAX is performing better in this area.
On the other hand, Addus HomeCare belongs to the Medical - Outpatient and Home Healthcare industry. This 14-stock industry is currently ranked #72. The industry has moved +20.4% year to date.
Novavax and Addus HomeCare 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).