Are Medical Stocks Lagging McKesson (MCK) This Year?

The Medical group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Has McKesson (MCK) been one of those stocks this year? 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.

McKesson is a member of our Medical group, which includes 983 different companies and currently sits at #8 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 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. McKesson is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for MCK's full-year earnings has moved 1.8% higher within the past quarter. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Based on the latest available data, MCK has gained about 23.9% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Medical group have lost about 3.5% on average. As we can see, McKesson is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Another Medical stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Cencora (COR). The stock has returned 27.4% year-to-date.

Over the past three months, Cencora's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 2.5%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, McKesson belongs to the Medical - Dental Supplies industry, a group that includes 14 individual companies and currently sits at #30 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 0.8% so far this year, so MCK is performing better in this area.

In contrast, Cencora falls under the Medical Services industry. Currently, this industry has 58 stocks and is ranked #89. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved -6.3%.

Investors with an interest in Medical stocks should continue to track McKesson and Cencora. 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