Has Adaptive Biotechnologies (ADPT) Outpaced Other Medical Stocks This Year?

For those looking to find strong Medical stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Adaptive Biotechnologies (ADPT) 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? By taking a look at the stock's year-to-date performance in comparison to its Medical peers, we might be able to answer that question.

Adaptive Biotechnologies is one of 979 companies in the Medical group. The Medical group currently sits at #8 within the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different groups, measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the sector to gauge the strength of each group.

The Zacks Rank is a proven model that highlights a variety of stocks with the right characteristics to outperform the market over the next one to three months. The system emphasizes earnings estimate revisions and favors companies with improving earnings outlooks. Adaptive Biotechnologies is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ADPT's full-year earnings has moved 8.1% higher within the past quarter. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Based on the latest available data, ADPT has gained about 109.2% so far this year. At the same time, Medical stocks have lost an average of 8.1%. As we can see, Adaptive Biotechnologies is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Another stock in the Medical sector, Cardinal Health (CAH), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 29.7%.

For Cardinal Health, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 2% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Adaptive Biotechnologies belongs to the Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry, a group that includes 489 individual stocks and currently sits at #142 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have lost about 1.1% so far this year, so ADPT is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, Cardinal Health falls under the Medical - Dental Supplies industry. Currently, this industry has 14 stocks and is ranked #89. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved -4.3%.

Adaptive Biotechnologies and Cardinal Health could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Medical stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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