Investors interested in Medical stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Cardinal Health (CAH) 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? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.
Cardinal Health is a member of our Medical group, which includes 985 different companies and currently sits at #7 in 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 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. Cardinal Health is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for CAH's full-year earnings has moved 2.8% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.
Our latest available data shows that CAH has returned about 32.8% since the start of the calendar year. At the same time, Medical stocks have lost an average of 5.2%. This shows that Cardinal Health is outperforming its peers so far this year.
One other Medical stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Biotricity Inc. (BTCY). The stock is up 75.9% year-to-date.
Over the past three months, Biotricity Inc.'s consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 17.9%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, Cardinal Health belongs to the Medical - Dental Supplies industry, a group that includes 14 individual stocks and currently sits at #50 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have lost about 0.7% so far this year, so CAH is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.
Biotricity Inc., however, belongs to the Medical Info Systems industry. Currently, this 44-stock industry is ranked #82. The industry has moved +8.2% so far this year.
Going forward, investors interested in Medical stocks should continue to pay close attention to Cardinal Health and Biotricity Inc. as they could maintain their solid performance.
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Cardinal Health, Inc. (CAH): Free Stock Analysis Report Biotricity Inc. (BTCY): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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