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Is Ligand Pharmaceuticals (LGND) Stock Outpacing Its Medical Peers This Year?

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Investors focused on the Medical space have likely heard of Ligand Pharmaceuticals (LGND - Free Report) , but is the stock performing well in comparison to the rest of its sector peers? One simple way to answer this question is to take a look at the year-to-date performance of LGND and the rest of the Medical group's stocks.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals is one of 758 companies in the Medical group. The Medical group currently sits at #5 within 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 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. LGND is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for LGND's full-year earnings has moved 32.56% higher within the past quarter. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

According to our latest data, LGND has moved about 80.65% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, the Medical sector has returned an average of 4.19% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Ligand Pharmaceuticals is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Looking more specifically, LGND belongs to the Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry, which includes 280 individual stocks and currently sits at #114 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have lost 3.41% this year, meaning that LGND is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

LGND will likely be looking to continue its solid performance, so investors interested Medical stocks should continue to pay close attention to the company.


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