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Is Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) Outperforming Other Medical Stocks This Year?

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Investors focused on the Medical space have likely heard of Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX - Free Report) , but is the stock performing well in comparison to the rest of its sector peers? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Medical sector should help us answer this question.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals is one of 867 companies in the Medical group. The Medical group currently sits at #3 within the Zacks Sector Rank. 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 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. VRTX is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for VRTX's full-year earnings has moved 11.39% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Our latest available data shows that VRTX has returned about 3.20% since the start of the calendar year. In comparison, Medical companies have returned an average of 2.05%. As we can see, Vertex Pharmaceuticals is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

To break things down more, VRTX belongs to the Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry, a group that includes 367 individual companies and currently sits at #79 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have lost about 1.90% so far this year, so VRTX 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 VRTX as it attempts to continue its solid performance.


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