Investors focused on the Medical space have likely heard of Eli Lilly and (LLY Quick QuoteLLY - 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 LLY and the rest of the Medical group's stocks.

Eli Lilly and is a member of our Medical group, which includes 843 different companies and currently sits at #3 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 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. LLY is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for LLY's full-year earnings has moved 2.06% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Our latest available data shows that LLY has returned about 35.24% since the start of the calendar year. At the same time, Medical stocks have gained an average of 2.47%. This means that Eli Lilly and is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Looking more specifically, LLY belongs to the Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry, which includes 14 individual stocks and currently sits at #78 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 10.81% so far this year, so LLY is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

Investors in the Medical sector will want to keep a close eye on LLY as it attempts to continue its solid performance.