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Is Humana (HUM) Stock Outpacing Its Medical Peers This Year?

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Investors focused on the Medical space have likely heard of Humana (HUM - Free Report) , but is the stock performing well in comparison to the rest of its sector peers? One simple way to answer this question is to take a look at the year-to-date performance of HUM and the rest of the Medical group's stocks.

Humana is a member of the Medical sector. This group includes 933 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #14. 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 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. HUM is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for HUM's full-year earnings has moved 1.38% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Our latest available data shows that HUM has returned about 19.43% since the start of the calendar year. At the same time, Medical stocks have gained an average of 1.58%. This means that Humana is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

To break things down more, HUM belongs to the Medical - HMOs industry, a group that includes 10 individual companies and currently sits at #65 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 5.39% this year, meaning that HUM is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

Going forward, investors interested in Medical stocks should continue to pay close attention to HUM as it looks to continue its solid performance.


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