Investors interested in Medical stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Is ABIOMED 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.

ABIOMED is one of 841 companies in the Medical group. The Medical group currently sits at #1 within the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank includes 16 different groups and is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors.

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. ABMD is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ABMD's full-year earnings has moved 3.18% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the most recent data, ABMD has returned 7.22% so far this year. In comparison, Medical companies have returned an average of 3.44%. This means that ABIOMED is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

To break things down more, ABMD belongs to the Medical - Instruments industry, a group that includes 90 individual companies and currently sits at #61 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 9.10% this year, meaning that ABMD is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.

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