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Is AMN Healthcare Services (AMN) Stock Outpacing Its Business Services Peers This Year?

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For those looking to find strong Business Services stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Is AMN Healthcare Services (AMN - Free Report) one of those stocks right now? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Business Services sector should help us answer this question.

AMN Healthcare Services is a member of our Business Services group, which includes 234 different companies and currently sits at #10 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank includes 16 different groups and is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors.

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. AMN Healthcare Services is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AMN's full-year earnings has moved 164.8% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

According to our latest data, AMN has moved about 42.5% on a year-to-date basis. In comparison, Business Services companies have returned an average of -10.1%. This means that AMN Healthcare Services is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

HireQuest, Inc. (HQI - Free Report) is another Business Services stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 16.3%.

Over the past three months, HireQuest, Inc.'s consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 6%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, AMN Healthcare Services belongs to the Business - Services industry, a group that includes 20 individual companies and currently sits at #68 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has lost an average of 13.2% so far this year, so AMN is performing better in this area.

On the other hand, HireQuest, Inc. belongs to the Staffing Firms industry. This 13-stock industry is currently ranked #155. The industry has moved +7.1% year to date.

Going forward, investors interested in Business Services stocks should continue to pay close attention to AMN Healthcare Services and HireQuest, Inc. as they could maintain their solid performance.

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