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Are Medical Stocks Lagging Aquestive Therapeutics (AQST) 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. Aquestive Therapeutics (AQST - 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? 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.

Aquestive Therapeutics is a member of the Medical sector. This group includes 1119 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #7. 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 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. Aquestive Therapeutics is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AQST's full-year earnings has moved 63.3% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the latest available data, AQST has gained about 81.8% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Medical group have lost about 3.7% on average. This shows that Aquestive Therapeutics is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Another Medical stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is HCA Healthcare (HCA - Free Report) . The stock has returned 23.4% year-to-date.

Over the past three months, HCA Healthcare's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 5.3%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, Aquestive Therapeutics belongs to the Medical - Drugs industry, a group that includes 201 individual companies and currently sits at #96 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has lost an average of 1.8% so far this year, so AQST is performing better in this area.

In contrast, HCA Healthcare falls under the Medical - Hospital industry. Currently, this industry has 5 stocks and is ranked #15. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +20.7%.

Aquestive Therapeutics and HCA Healthcare could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Medical stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.


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