Investors interested in Medical stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Has Abbott Laboratories (ABT Quick QuoteABT - Free Report) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Abbott Laboratories is a member of the Medical sector. This group includes 848 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #3. 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 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. ABT is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ABT's full-year earnings has moved 0.73% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the most recent data, ABT has returned 2.20% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Medical sector has returned an average of 0.85% on a year-to-date basis. This shows that Abbott Laboratories is outperforming its peers so far this year.

To break things down more, ABT belongs to the Medical - Products industry, a group that includes 77 individual companies and currently sits at #150 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 5.08% so far this year, so ABT is slightly underperforming its industry in this area.

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