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Is Abbott Laboratories (ABT) 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. Abbott (ABT - 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? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Medical sector should help us answer this question.

Abbott is a member of our Medical group, which includes 1075 different companies and currently sits at #7 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different groups, measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the sector to gauge the strength of each group.

The Zacks Rank is a successful stock-picking model that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions. The system highlights a number of different stocks that could be poised to outperform the broader market over the next one to three months. Abbott is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ABT's full-year earnings has moved 0.2% 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, ABT has gained about 2.2% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Medical sector has returned an average of -1.4% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Abbott is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

One other Medical stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Akoya Biosciences (AKYA - Free Report) . The stock is up 2.3% year-to-date.

In Akoya Biosciences' case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 24.6% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Abbott belongs to the Medical - Products industry, which includes 96 individual stocks and currently sits at #154 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 4.2% so far this year, so ABT is slightly underperforming its industry this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, Akoya Biosciences belongs to the Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry. This 521-stock industry is currently ranked #95. The industry has moved -13.4% year to date.

Abbott and Akoya Biosciences could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Medical stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.


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