The Medical group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Has Palatin Technologies (PTN Quick QuotePTN - 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.

Palatin Technologies is a member of the Medical sector. This group includes 867 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #2. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different groups, measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the sector to gauge the strength of each group.

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

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for PTN's full-year earnings has moved 68.75% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Based on the latest available data, PTN has gained about 10.15% so far this year. At the same time, Medical stocks have gained an average of 0.91%. This means that Palatin Technologies is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

Looking more specifically, PTN belongs to the Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry, a group that includes 368 individual stocks and currently sits at #69 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have lost about 3.98% so far this year, so PTN is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

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