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Are Medical Stocks Lagging Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (AMPH) 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. Is Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (AMPH - Free Report) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals is a member of our Medical group, which includes 1093 different companies and currently sits at #3 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 system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AMPH's full-year earnings has moved 7.4% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Based on the latest available data, AMPH has gained about 69.7% so far this year. At the same time, Medical stocks have lost an average of 7.6%. As we can see, Amphastar Pharmaceuticals is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

One other Medical stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Acadia Pharmaceuticals (ACAD - Free Report) . The stock is up 36.6% year-to-date.

Over the past three months, Acadia Pharmaceuticals' consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 23.2%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Amphastar Pharmaceuticals belongs to the Medical - Generic Drugs industry, which includes 16 individual stocks and currently sits at #64 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 17.8% so far this year, meaning that AMPH is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, Acadia Pharmaceuticals falls under the Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry. Currently, this industry has 529 stocks and is ranked #70. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved -18.9%.

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals and Acadia Pharmaceuticals could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Medical stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.


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