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Are Medical Stocks Lagging Axcella Health (AXLA) 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. Axcella Health Inc. 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.

Axcella Health Inc. is a member of our Medical group, which includes 1110 different companies and currently sits at #6 in 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 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. Axcella Health Inc. is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AXLA's full-year earnings has moved 59.6% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

According to our latest data, AXLA has moved about 208.4% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, stocks in the Medical group have lost about 3.5% on average. This means that Axcella Health Inc. is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

One other Medical stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Clover Health Investments, Corp. (CLOV - Free Report) . The stock is up 21.6% year-to-date.

Over the past three months, Clover Health Investments, Corp.'s consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 16.7%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, Axcella Health Inc. belongs to the Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry, a group that includes 533 individual companies and currently sits at #94 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has lost an average of 12.5% so far this year, so AXLA is performing better in this area.

In contrast, Clover Health Investments, Corp. falls under the Medical Info Systems industry. Currently, this industry has 43 stocks and is ranked #101. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +23.5%.

Axcella Health Inc. and Clover Health Investments, Corp. could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Medical stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.


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