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Has Pliant Therapeutics (PLRX) 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. Has Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. (PLRX - 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.

Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. is one of 1184 companies in the Medical group. The Medical group currently sits at #6 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. Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for PLRX's full-year earnings has moved 10.5% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Our latest available data shows that PLRX has returned about 52.6% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Medical group have lost about 20.6% on average. This means that Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Alaunos (TCRT - 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 166.1%.

For Alaunos, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 37% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. belongs to the Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry, a group that includes 557 individual stocks and currently sits at #66 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has lost an average of 23.9% so far this year, so PLRX is performing better in this area.

In contrast, Alaunos falls under the Medical - Drugs industry. Currently, this industry has 220 stocks and is ranked #79. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved -24.3%.

Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. and Alaunos could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Medical stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.


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