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Is WellCare Health Plans (WCG) Stock Outpacing Its Medical Peers This Year?

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The Medical group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. WellCare Health Plans is a stock that can certainly grab the attention of many investors, but do its recent returns compare favorably to the sector as a whole? One simple way to answer this question is to take a look at the year-to-date performance of WCG and the rest of the Medical group's stocks.

WellCare Health Plans is one of 883 companies in the Medical group. The Medical group currently sits at #2 within the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different sector groups. The average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups is measured, and the sectors are listed from best to worst.

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

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for WCG's full-year earnings has moved 11.96% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Our latest available data shows that WCG has returned about 38.48% since the start of the calendar year. In comparison, Medical companies have returned an average of 10.31%. This shows that WellCare Health Plans is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Looking more specifically, WCG belongs to the Medical - HMOs industry, which includes 11 individual stocks and currently sits at #54 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 19.16% so far this year, so WCG is performing better in this area.

Going forward, investors interested in Medical stocks should continue to pay close attention to WCG as it looks to continue its solid performance.

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