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Is Aveanna Healthcare (AVAH) Stock Outpacing Its Medical Peers 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. Has Aveanna Healthcare (AVAH - Free Report) been one of those stocks this year? 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.

Aveanna Healthcare is a member of the Medical sector. This group includes 915 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #10. 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 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. Aveanna Healthcare is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AVAH's full-year earnings has moved 23.2% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Our latest available data shows that AVAH has returned about 56.4% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Medical sector has returned an average of 2.8% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Aveanna Healthcare is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

One other Medical stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Charles River Laboratories (CRL - Free Report) . The stock is up 48.4% year-to-date.

In Charles River Laboratories' case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 3.3% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Aveanna Healthcare belongs to the Medical - Outpatient and Home Healthcare industry, which includes 14 individual stocks and currently sits at #55 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 19.3% so far this year, so AVAH is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

Charles River Laboratories, however, belongs to the Medical Services industry. Currently, this 72-stock industry is ranked #101. The industry has moved +4.4% so far this year.

Aveanna Healthcare and Charles River Laboratories could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Medical stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.

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