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Is AcelRx Pharmaceuticals (ACRX) Outperforming Other Medical Stocks This Year?

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The Medical group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. AcelRx Pharmaceuticals 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? One simple way to answer this question is to take a look at the year-to-date performance of ACRX and the rest of the Medical group's stocks.

AcelRx Pharmaceuticals is a member of the Medical sector. This group includes 758 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #5. 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 system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. ACRX is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ACRX's full-year earnings has moved 7.42% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the latest available data, ACRX has gained about 50.62% so far this year. In comparison, Medical companies have returned an average of 4.74%. This means that AcelRx Pharmaceuticals is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

Breaking things down more, ACRX is a member of the Medical - Drugs industry, which includes 163 individual companies and currently sits at #162 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 3.59% so far this year, so ACRX is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

Going forward, investors interested in Medical stocks should continue to pay close attention to ACRX as it looks to continue its solid performance.