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Has Abbott Laboratories (ABT) Outpaced Other Medical Stocks This Year?

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

Abbott Laboratories is one of 976 companies in the Medical group. The Medical group currently sits at #15 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. ABT is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ABT's full-year earnings has moved 15.63% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

According to our latest data, ABT has moved about 11.49% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, stocks in the Medical group have gained about 0.95% on average. This means that Abbott Laboratories is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

Looking more specifically, ABT belongs to the Medical - Products industry, a group that includes 79 individual stocks and currently sits at #141 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 5.65% so far this year, so ABT is performing better this group 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.


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