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Is Acadia Healthcare (ACHC) 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. Has Acadia Healthcare (ACHC - Free Report) been one of those stocks this year? By taking a look at the stock's year-to-date performance in comparison to its Medical peers, we might be able to answer that question.

Acadia Healthcare is a member of our Medical group, which includes 915 different companies and currently sits at #5 in the Zacks Sector Rank. 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 proven model that highlights a variety of stocks with the right characteristics to outperform the market over the next one to three months. The system emphasizes earnings estimate revisions and favors companies with improving earnings outlooks. Acadia Healthcare is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ACHC's full-year earnings has moved 2.5% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Our latest available data shows that ACHC has returned about 145.2% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Medical sector has returned an average of 8.3% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Acadia Healthcare is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Aclaris Therapeutics (ACRS - Free Report) is another Medical stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 19.9%.

The consensus estimate for Aclaris Therapeutics' current year EPS has increased 1.3% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, Acadia Healthcare belongs to the Medical - Hospital industry, a group that includes 4 individual companies and currently sits at #193 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 19.7% this year, meaning that ACHC is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, Aclaris Therapeutics belongs to the Medical - Drugs industry. This 133-stock industry is currently ranked #104. The industry has moved -4.6% year to date.

Going forward, investors interested in Medical stocks should continue to pay close attention to Acadia Healthcare and Aclaris Therapeutics as they could maintain their solid performance.

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