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Is Abbott Laboratories (ABT) Stock Outpacing Its Medical Peers This Year?

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Investors interested in Medical stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Has Abbott Laboratories (ABT - Free Report) 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.

Abbott Laboratories is a member of our Medical group, which includes 845 different companies and currently sits at #2 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 emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find stocks with improving earnings outlooks. This system has a long record of success, and these stocks tend to be on track to beat the market over the next one to three months. ABT is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ABT's full-year earnings has moved 0.43% higher within the past quarter. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Based on the latest available data, ABT has gained about 8.79% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Medical group have gained about 5.30% on average. As we can see, Abbott Laboratories is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

To break things down more, ABT belongs to the Medical - Products industry, a group that includes 77 individual companies and currently sits at #171 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 11.65% so far this year, so ABT is slightly underperforming its industry this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

ABT will likely be looking to continue its solid performance, so investors interested in Medical stocks should continue to pay close attention to the company.


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