Investors interested in Medical stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Has Centene (CNC Quick QuoteCNC - 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.

Centene is one of 904 companies in the Medical group. The Medical group currently sits at #4 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 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. CNC is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CNC's full-year earnings has moved 2.50% higher within the past quarter. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

According to our latest data, CNC has moved about 5.81% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, the Medical sector has returned an average of 0.45% on a year-to-date basis. This shows that Centene is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Looking more specifically, CNC belongs to the Medical - HMOs industry, which includes 10 individual stocks and currently sits at #74 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has lost an average of 4.53% so far this year, meaning that CNC is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

CNC will likely be looking to continue its solid performance, so investors interested in Medical stocks should continue to pay close attention to the company.