Are Medical Stocks Lagging Alkermes (ALKS) This Year?

The Medical group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Is Alkermes (ALKS) 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.

Alkermes is a member of our Medical group, which includes 956 different companies and currently sits at #4 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 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. Alkermes is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ALKS' full-year earnings has moved 15.4% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the most recent data, ALKS has returned 7.7% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Medical group have gained about 1.7% on average. This means that Alkermes 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 Brainsway Ltd. Sponsored ADR (BWAY). The stock is up 68.4% year-to-date.

In Brainsway Ltd. Sponsored ADR's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 15.8% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Breaking things down more, Alkermes is a member of the Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry, which includes 470 individual companies and currently sits at #85 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 10.6% so far this year, so ALKS is slightly underperforming its industry this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, Brainsway Ltd. Sponsored ADR falls under the Medical - Products industry. Currently, this industry has 84 stocks and is ranked #95. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +5.3%.

Investors with an interest in Medical stocks should continue to track Alkermes and Brainsway Ltd. Sponsored ADR. These stocks will be looking to continue their solid performance.

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

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Source Zacks-com