Investors focused on the Medical space have likely heard of HCA Healthcare (HCA Quick QuoteHCA - Free Report) , but is the stock performing well in comparison to the rest of its sector peers? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

HCA Healthcare is one of 841 individual stocks in the Medical sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #2 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 successful stock-picking model that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions. The system highlights a number of different stocks that could be poised to outperform the broader market over the next one to three months. HCA is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for HCA's full-year earnings has moved 1.12% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Our latest available data shows that HCA has returned about 53.64% since the start of the calendar year. In comparison, Medical companies have returned an average of 2.55%. This means that HCA Healthcare is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

To break things down more, HCA belongs to the Medical - Hospital industry, a group that includes 6 individual companies and currently sits at #212 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 34.28% this year, meaning that HCA is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

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