The Medical group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Beam Therapeutics Inc. (BEAM) 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? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Medical sector should help us answer this question.
Beam Therapeutics Inc. is a member of our Medical group, which includes 956 different companies and currently sits at #5 in 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 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. Beam Therapeutics Inc. is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for BEAM's full-year earnings has moved 1.4% higher within the past quarter. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.
According to our latest data, BEAM has moved about 4% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, stocks in the Medical group have gained about 0.4% on average. This means that Beam Therapeutics Inc. is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.
One other Medical stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Humana (HUM). The stock is up 5.4% year-to-date.
For Humana, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 4.2% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, Beam Therapeutics Inc. belongs to the Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry, which includes 470 individual stocks and currently sits at #83 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 8.9% so far this year, so BEAM is slightly underperforming its industry in this area.
On the other hand, Humana belongs to the Medical - HMOs industry. This 8-stock industry is currently ranked #163. The industry has moved -24% year to date.
Going forward, investors interested in Medical stocks should continue to pay close attention to Beam Therapeutics Inc. and Humana as they could maintain their solid performance.
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Beam Therapeutics Inc. (BEAM): Free Stock Analysis Report Humana Inc. (HUM): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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