For those looking to find strong Medical stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Is Abbott Laboratories (ABT Quick QuoteABT - Free Report) one of those stocks right now? By taking a look at the stock's year-to-date performance in comparison to its Medical peers, we might be able to answer that question.

Abbott Laboratories is a member of our Medical group, which includes 933 different companies and currently sits at #15 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 proven system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. ABT is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ABT's full-year earnings has moved 16.56% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the latest available data, ABT has gained about 26.24% so far this year. In comparison, Medical companies have returned an average of 2.43%. As we can see, Abbott Laboratories is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Looking more specifically, ABT belongs to the Medical - Products industry, a group that includes 80 individual stocks and currently sits at #122 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 2.03% this year, meaning that ABT is performing better 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.