Investors interested in Medical stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Has Stryker (SYK Quick QuoteSYK - 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.

Stryker is one of 902 companies in the Medical group. The Medical group currently sits at #3 within the Zacks Sector Rank. 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 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. SYK is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for SYK's full-year earnings has moved 0.82% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

According to our latest data, SYK has moved about 3.71% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, the Medical sector has returned an average of 3.04% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Stryker is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

Breaking things down more, SYK is a member of the Medical - Products industry, which includes 85 individual companies and currently sits at #99 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 3.92% so far this year, meaning that SYK is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.

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