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

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The Medical group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Is UnitedHealth Group (UNH - Free Report) one of those stocks right now? 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.

UnitedHealth Group is one of 903 individual stocks in the Medical sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #5 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 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. UNH is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for UNH's full-year earnings has moved 0.47% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

According to our latest data, UNH has moved about 3.43% on a year-to-date basis. At the same time, Medical stocks have gained an average of 2.01%. This means that UnitedHealth Group is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

Looking more specifically, UNH belongs to the Medical - HMOs industry, which includes 10 individual stocks and currently sits at #37 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have lost about 3.39% so far this year, so UNH is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

Going forward, investors interested in Medical stocks should continue to pay close attention to UNH as it looks to continue its solid performance.


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