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Is Akebia Therapeutics (AKBA) Stock Outpacing Its Medical Peers This Year?

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Investors interested in Medical stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Is Akebia Therapeutics (AKBA - 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.

Akebia Therapeutics is one of 1142 companies in the Medical group. The Medical group currently sits at #6 within the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank gauges the strength of our 16 individual sector groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups.

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

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AKBA's full-year earnings has moved 37.8% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the most recent data, AKBA has returned 92.4% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Medical sector has returned an average of -1.3% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, Akebia Therapeutics is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Another Medical stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Haemonetics (HAE - Free Report) . The stock has returned 6.6% year-to-date.

Over the past three months, Haemonetics' consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 8%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Breaking things down more, Akebia Therapeutics is a member of the Medical - Drugs industry, which includes 208 individual companies and currently sits at #107 in the Zacks Industry Rank.

In contrast, Haemonetics falls under the Medical - Products industry. Currently, this industry has 99 stocks and is ranked #57. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +5.9%.

Investors interested in the Medical sector may want to keep a close eye on Akebia Therapeutics and Haemonetics as they attempt to continue their solid performance.


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