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Are Medical Stocks Lagging Catalyst Pharmaceuticals (CPRX) 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. Is Catalyst Pharmaceutical (CPRX - Free Report) one of those stocks right now? 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.

Catalyst Pharmaceutical is a member of our Medical group, which includes 1188 different companies and currently sits at #3 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different groups, measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the sector to gauge the strength of each group.

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. Catalyst Pharmaceutical is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CPRX's full-year earnings has moved 4.8% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Our latest available data shows that CPRX has returned about 90.8% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Medical sector has returned an average of -21.1% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, Catalyst Pharmaceutical is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

One other Medical stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is AxoGen (AXGN - Free Report) . The stock is up 24.2% year-to-date.

The consensus estimate for AxoGen's current year EPS has increased 6.8% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Catalyst Pharmaceutical belongs to the Medical - Drugs industry, a group that includes 218 individual stocks and currently sits at #86 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have lost 27.9% this year, meaning that CPRX is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, AxoGen belongs to the Medical - Instruments industry. This 103-stock industry is currently ranked #145. The industry has moved -34.2% year to date.

Catalyst Pharmaceutical 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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