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Is WellCare Health Plans (WCG) Outperforming Other Medical Stocks This Year?

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Investors focused on the Medical space have likely heard of WellCare Health Plans , 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 WCG and the rest of the Medical group's stocks.

WellCare Health Plans is one of 756 individual stocks in the Medical sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #7 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different groups, measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the sector to gauge the strength of each group.

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. WCG is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for WCG's full-year earnings has moved 5.11% 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, WCG has moved about 52.89% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, the Medical sector has returned an average of 10.94% on a year-to-date basis. This means that WellCare Health Plans is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

Breaking things down more, WCG is a member of the Medical - HMOs industry, which includes 13 individual companies and currently sits at #43 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 23.36% this year, meaning that WCG is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

Investors in the Medical sector will want to keep a close eye on WCG as it attempts to continue its solid performance.