Investors focused on the Medical space have likely heard of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY Quick QuoteALNY - Free Report) , but is the stock performing well in comparison to the rest of its sector peers? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals is one of 889 companies in the Medical group. The Medical group currently sits at #1 within the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank gauges the strength of our 16 individual sector groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups.

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

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ALNY's full-year earnings has moved 13.87% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

According to our latest data, ALNY has moved about 22.01% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, the Medical sector has returned an average of -1.66% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Alnylam Pharmaceuticals is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

To break things down more, ALNY belongs to the Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry, a group that includes 382 individual companies and currently sits at #16 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 8.25% so far this year, meaning that ALNY is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

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