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Is Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (AMPH) Outperforming 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. Is Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (AMPH - Free Report) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals is one of 1193 companies in the Medical group. The Medical group currently sits at #4 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. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AMPH's full-year earnings has moved 0.6% higher within the past quarter. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Based on the latest available data, AMPH has gained about 24.7% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Medical sector has returned an average of -23.2% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, Amphastar Pharmaceuticals is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Haemonetics (HAE - 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 43.2%.

The consensus estimate for Haemonetics' current year EPS has increased 2.7% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Amphastar Pharmaceuticals belongs to the Medical - Generic Drugs industry, a group that includes 17 individual stocks and currently sits at #49 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have lost about 31% so far this year, so AMPH is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, Haemonetics belongs to the Medical - Products industry. This 103-stock industry is currently ranked #172. The industry has moved -46.4% year to date.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals and Haemonetics could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Medical stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.


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