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Are Medical Stocks Lagging Acadia Healthcare (ACHC) 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. Has Acadia Healthcare (ACHC - Free Report) been one of those stocks this year? 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.

Acadia Healthcare is a member of the Medical sector. This group includes 1189 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #4. 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. Acadia Healthcare is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ACHC's full-year earnings has moved 1.4% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Based on the most recent data, ACHC has returned 34.1% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Medical sector has returned an average of -15% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Acadia Healthcare is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

AxoGen (AXGN - Free Report) is another Medical stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 12.7%.

In AxoGen's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 11.2% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Acadia Healthcare belongs to the Medical - Hospital industry, a group that includes 6 individual stocks and currently sits at #215 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have lost about 17.3% so far this year, so ACHC is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

AxoGen, however, belongs to the Medical - Instruments industry. Currently, this 104-stock industry is ranked #96. The industry has moved -23.2% so far this year.

Acadia Healthcare and AxoGen could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Medical stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.


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