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Is Alexion Pharmaceuticals (ALXN) Stock Outpacing Its Medical Peers This Year?

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

Alexion Pharmaceuticals is a member of the Medical sector. This group includes 889 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #2. 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. ALXN is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ALXN's full-year earnings has moved 5.04% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Based on the most recent data, ALXN has returned 7.65% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Medical sector has returned an average of -0.04% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Alexion Pharmaceuticals is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

To break things down more, ALXN belongs to the Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry, a group that includes 377 individual companies and currently sits at #83 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have lost 4.31% this year, meaning that ALXN is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

Investors with an interest in Medical stocks should continue to track ALXN. The stock will be looking to continue its solid performance.

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