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Are Medical Stocks Lagging HCA Healthcare (HCA) This Year?

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Investors interested in Medical stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. HCA Healthcare (HCA - Free Report) 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.

HCA Healthcare is one of 1019 individual stocks in the Medical sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #5 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 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. HCA Healthcare is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for HCA's full-year earnings has moved 7.5% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

According to our latest data, HCA has moved about 43.3% on a year-to-date basis. At the same time, Medical stocks have gained an average of 9.5%. This shows that HCA Healthcare is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Another stock in the Medical sector, Arbutus Biopharma (ABUS - Free Report) , has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 82%.

For Arbutus Biopharma, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 2.6% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, HCA Healthcare belongs to the Medical - Hospital industry, a group that includes 5 individual companies and currently sits at #3 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 43.7% so far this year, so HCA is slightly underperforming its industry in this area.

On the other hand, Arbutus Biopharma belongs to the Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry. This 497-stock industry is currently ranked #86. The industry has moved -1.2% year to date.

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


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