Is Novartis (NVS) Outperforming Other Medical Stocks This Year?

Investors focused on the Medical space have likely heard of Novartis (NVS), but is the stock performing well in comparison to the rest of its sector peers? 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.

Novartis is a member of our Medical group, which includes 889 different companies and currently sits at #2 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. NVS is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for NVS's full-year earnings has moved 2.88% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Our latest available data shows that NVS has returned about 0.48% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Medical sector has returned an average of -1.78% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Novartis is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

To break things down more, NVS belongs to the Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry, a group that includes 14 individual companies and currently sits at #35 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 3.42% so far this year, meaning that NVS is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.

Investors in the Medical sector will want to keep a close eye on NVS as it attempts to continue its solid performance.

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