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Is Abbott Laboratories (ABT) Outperforming Other Medical Stocks This Year?

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Investors focused on the Medical space have likely heard of Abbott Laboratories (ABT - Free Report) , but is the stock performing well in comparison to the rest of its sector peers? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Abbott Laboratories is a member of our Medical group, which includes 844 different companies and currently sits at #2 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 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).

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

Our latest available data shows that ABT has returned about 8.79% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Medical group have gained about 3.48% on average. This means that Abbott Laboratories is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

To break things down more, ABT belongs to the Medical - Products industry, a group that includes 77 individual companies and currently sits at #73 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 10.99% so far this year, so ABT is slightly underperforming its industry this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

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


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