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Is Anthem (ANTM) Stock Outpacing Its Medical Peers This Year?

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Investors focused on the Medical space have likely heard of Anthem , 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 ANTM and the rest of the Medical group's stocks.

Anthem is a member of our Medical group, which includes 844 different companies and currently sits 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 proven system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. ANTM is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ANTM's full-year earnings has moved 0.40% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Based on the latest available data, ANTM has gained about 5.44% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Medical sector has returned an average of 3.48% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Anthem is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Breaking things down more, ANTM is a member of the Medical - HMOs industry, which includes 11 individual companies and currently sits at #5 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have lost about 0.87% so far this year, so ANTM is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

ANTM 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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