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Are Medical Stocks Lagging Cronos Group (CRON) 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 Cronos Group (CRON - 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 Medical sector should help us answer this question.

Cronos Group is a member of the Medical sector. This group includes 916 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #8. 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 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. Cronos Group is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CRON's full-year earnings has moved 200% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the most recent data, CRON has returned 27.4% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Medical group have gained about 6.3% on average. This shows that Cronos Group is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Another Medical stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Amgen (AMGN - Free Report) . The stock has returned 34.2% year-to-date.

In Amgen's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 2.9% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Breaking things down more, Cronos Group is a member of the Medical - Drugs industry, which includes 133 individual companies and currently sits at #88 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have lost 2.1% this year, meaning that CRON is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, Amgen belongs to the Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry. This 449-stock industry is currently ranked #100. The industry has moved +5.9% year to date.

Cronos Group and Amgen could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Medical stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.

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