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Has UnitedHealth Group (UNH) Outpaced 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. Is UnitedHealth Group (UNH - Free Report) one of those stocks right now? 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.

UnitedHealth Group is a member of the Medical sector. This group includes 841 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #2. 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. UNH is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for UNH's full-year earnings has moved 0.79% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Our latest available data shows that UNH has returned about 22.10% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Medical sector has returned an average of 1.12% on a year-to-date basis. This shows that UnitedHealth Group is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Looking more specifically, UNH belongs to the Medical - HMOs industry, a group that includes 12 individual stocks and currently sits at #88 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 23.02% so far this year, so UNH is slightly underperforming its industry this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

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


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