Is ANI Pharmaceuticals (ANIP) Outperforming Other Medical Stocks This Year?

Investors interested in Medical stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Is ANI Pharmaceuticals (ANIP) one of those stocks right now? 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.

ANI Pharmaceuticals is one of 946 individual stocks in the Medical sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #4 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. ANI Pharmaceuticals is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ANIP's full-year earnings has moved 5.4% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Our latest available data shows that ANIP has returned about 43.7% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Medical sector has returned an average of 7.6% on a year-to-date basis. This means that ANI Pharmaceuticals is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

Another stock in the Medical sector, Aveanna Healthcare (AVAH), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 83.6%.

In Aveanna Healthcare's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 31.2% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, ANI Pharmaceuticals belongs to the Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry, a group that includes 464 individual stocks and currently sits at #92 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 19.3% so far this year, so ANIP is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, Aveanna Healthcare falls under the Medical - Outpatient and Home Healthcare industry. Currently, this industry has 15 stocks and is ranked #37. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +7%.

ANI Pharmaceuticals and Aveanna Healthcare 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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