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Is UnitedHealth Group (UNH) Outperforming Other Medical Stocks This Year?

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Investors focused on the Medical space have likely heard of UnitedHealth Group (UNH - 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.

UnitedHealth Group is one of 870 companies in the Medical group. The Medical group currently sits at #2 within 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. UNH is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for UNH's full-year earnings has moved 0.56% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Our latest available data shows that UNH has returned about 6.74% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Medical sector has returned an average of 4.88% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, UnitedHealth Group is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

To break things down more, UNH belongs to the Medical - HMOs industry, a group that includes 11 individual companies and currently sits at #10 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 8.67% this year, meaning that UNH is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.

Investors with an interest in Medical stocks should continue to track UNH. The stock will be looking to continue its solid performance.


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