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Are Medical Stocks Lagging Alkermes (ALKS) 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. Is Alkermes (ALKS - 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.

Alkermes is one of 1188 companies in the Medical group. The Medical group currently sits at #5 within the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different sector groups. The average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups is measured, and the sectors are listed from best to worst.

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. Alkermes is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ALKS' full-year earnings has moved 42.2% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

According to our latest data, ALKS has moved about 12.4% on a year-to-date basis. At the same time, Medical stocks have lost an average of 14.2%. As we can see, Alkermes is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Another stock in the Medical sector, Elevance Health (ELV - Free Report) , has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 6.1%.

Over the past three months, Elevance Health's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 0.9%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Alkermes belongs to the Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry, a group that includes 558 individual stocks and currently sits at #73 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have lost 17.1% this year, meaning that ALKS is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, Elevance Health belongs to the Medical Services industry. This 66-stock industry is currently ranked #92. The industry has moved -23.3% year to date.

Investors interested in the Medical sector may want to keep a close eye on Alkermes and Elevance Health as they attempt to continue their solid performance.


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