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Are Medical Stocks Lagging Novo Nordisk (NVO) 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. Novo Nordisk (NVO - Free Report) is a stock that can certainly grab the attention of many investors, but do its recent returns compare favorably to the sector as a whole? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Novo Nordisk is one of 1150 individual stocks in the Medical sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #4 in 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 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. Novo Nordisk is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NVO's full-year earnings has moved 9% 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 NVO has returned about 21.9% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Medical group have lost about 0.6% on average. As we can see, Novo Nordisk is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

One other Medical stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Novartis (NVS - Free Report) . The stock is up 8.1% year-to-date.

In Novartis' case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 0.9% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Breaking things down more, Novo Nordisk is a member of the Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry, which includes 12 individual companies and currently sits at #24 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 2.3% so far this year, so NVO is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns. Novartis is also part of the same industry.

Investors with an interest in Medical stocks should continue to track Novo Nordisk and Novartis. These stocks will be looking to continue their solid performance.


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