Investors interested in Medical stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Has Agilent Technologies (A) been one of those stocks this year? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Medical sector should help us answer this question.
Agilent Technologies is one of 916 companies in the Medical group. The Medical group currently sits at #10 within the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different sector groups. The average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups is measured, and the sectors are listed from best to worst.
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. Agilent Technologies is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for A's full-year earnings has moved 3.3% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.
Based on the most recent data, A has returned 25.3% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Medical group have gained about 1.1% on average. As we can see, Agilent Technologies is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.
Another stock in the Medical sector, Concentra Group (CON), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 89%.
Over the past three months, Concentra Group's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 8.4%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
Looking more specifically, Agilent Technologies belongs to the Medical - Products industry, which includes 81 individual stocks and currently sits at #75 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have lost 22.5% this year, meaning that A is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.
In contrast, Concentra Group falls under the Medical Services industry. Currently, this industry has 70 stocks and is ranked #157. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +4.3%.
Going forward, investors interested in Medical stocks should continue to pay close attention to Agilent Technologies and Concentra Group as they could maintain their solid performance.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).