Has Molina Healthcare (MOH) Outpaced Other Medical Stocks This Year?

UNH MOH

For those looking to find strong Medical stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Has Molina (MOH - Free Report) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Molina is one of 1185 individual stocks in the Medical sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #8 in the Zacks Sector Rank. 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 successful stock-picking model that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions. The system highlights a number of different stocks that could be poised to outperform the broader market over the next one to three months. Molina is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for MOH's full-year earnings has moved 1.3% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Our latest available data shows that MOH has returned about 2.7% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Medical sector has returned an average of -8.2% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Molina is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

One other Medical stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is UnitedHealth Group (UNH - Free Report) . The stock is up 4.4% year-to-date.

The consensus estimate for UnitedHealth Group's current year EPS has increased 0.2% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Breaking things down more, Molina is a member of the Medical - HMOs industry, which includes 8 individual companies and currently sits at #56 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 4.3% so far this year, meaning that MOH is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns. UnitedHealth Group is also part of the same industry.

Investors with an interest in Medical stocks should continue to track Molina and UnitedHealth Group. These stocks will be looking to continue their solid performance.

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