Has UnitedHealth Group (UNH) Outpaced Other Medical Stocks This Year?

UNH

For those looking to find strong Medical stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Has UnitedHealth Group (UNH - 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.

UnitedHealth Group is a member of our Medical group, which includes 837 different companies and currently sits at #3 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 is a proven model that highlights a variety of stocks with the right characteristics to outperform the market over the next one to three months. The system emphasizes earnings estimate revisions and favors companies with improving earnings outlooks. UNH is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for UNH's full-year earnings has moved 0.22% higher within the past quarter. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Based on the latest available data, UNH has gained about 8.55% so far this year. At the same time, Medical stocks have gained an average of 8.19%. This means that UnitedHealth Group is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Looking more specifically, UNH belongs to the Medical - HMOs industry, which includes 11 individual stocks and currently sits at #13 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 10.68% this year, meaning that UNH is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.

UNH 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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