Are Medical Stocks Lagging Amedisys (AMED) This Year?

Investors interested in Medical stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Is Amedisys (AMED) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Amedisys is one of 997 companies in the Medical group. The Medical group currently sits at #5 within 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 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. Amedisys is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AMED's full-year earnings has moved 1.5% higher within the past quarter. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

Based on the most recent data, AMED has returned 3.1% so far this year. At the same time, Medical stocks have lost an average of 6.8%. As we can see, Amedisys is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

BrightSpring Health Services, Inc. (BTSG) is another Medical stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 34.6%.

For BrightSpring Health Services, Inc. the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 23.8% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Amedisys belongs to the Medical - Outpatient and Home Healthcare industry, which includes 17 individual stocks and currently sits at #73 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 2.6% this year, meaning that AMED is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

BrightSpring Health Services, Inc. however, belongs to the Medical Services industry. Currently, this 58-stock industry is ranked #65. The industry has moved -5.5% so far this year.

Investors interested in the Medical sector may want to keep a close eye on Amedisys and BrightSpring Health Services, Inc. as they attempt to continue their solid performance.

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

Zacks Investment Research

Source Zacks-com