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Has Incyte (INCY) Outpaced Other Medical Stocks This Year?

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For those looking to find strong Medical stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Has Incyte (INCY - Free Report) been one of those stocks this year? By taking a look at the stock's year-to-date performance in comparison to its Medical peers, we might be able to answer that question.

Incyte is one of 1011 individual stocks in the Medical sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #1 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank includes 16 different groups and is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors.

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. Incyte is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for INCY's full-year earnings has moved 1.8% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the most recent data, INCY has returned 2.1% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Medical sector has returned an average of -4.5% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Incyte is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

One other Medical stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Atara Biotherapeutics (ATRA - Free Report) . The stock is up 16.8% year-to-date.

The consensus estimate for Atara Biotherapeutics' current year EPS has increased 20.6% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Incyte belongs to the Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry, a group that includes 513 individual stocks and currently sits at #63 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have lost about 14% so far this year, so INCY is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns. Atara Biotherapeutics is also part of the same industry.

Going forward, investors interested in Medical stocks should continue to pay close attention to Incyte and Atara Biotherapeutics as they could maintain their solid performance.


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