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Is West Pharmaceutical Services (WST) Outperforming Other Medical Stocks This Year?

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For those looking to find strong Medical stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Is West Pharmaceutical Services (WST - Free Report) one of those stocks right now? 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.

West Pharmaceutical Services is one of 901 individual stocks in the Medical sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #10 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank gauges the strength of our 16 individual sector groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups.

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. WST is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for WST's full-year earnings has moved 18.12% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

According to our latest data, WST has moved about 80.66% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, the Medical sector has returned an average of 1.78% on a year-to-date basis. This means that West Pharmaceutical Services is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

To break things down more, WST belongs to the Medical - Dental Supplies industry, a group that includes 21 individual companies and currently sits at #77 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 3.61% so far this year, so WST is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

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


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