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Is HCA Healthcare (HCA) Outperforming Other Medical Stocks This Year?

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Investors focused on the Medical space have likely heard of HCA Healthcare (HCA - Free Report) , but is the stock performing well in comparison to the rest of its sector peers? One simple way to answer this question is to take a look at the year-to-date performance of HCA and the rest of the Medical group's stocks.

HCA Healthcare is a member of our Medical group, which includes 869 different companies and currently sits at #2 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 system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. HCA is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for HCA's full-year earnings has moved 0.92% higher within the past quarter. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Based on the most recent data, HCA has returned 6.71% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Medical sector has returned an average of 4.66% on a year-to-date basis. This means that HCA Healthcare is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Looking more specifically, HCA belongs to the Medical - Hospital industry, a group that includes 6 individual stocks and currently sits at #19 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 11.13% so far this year, so HCA is slightly underperforming its industry this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

HCA will likely be looking to continue its solid performance, so investors interested in Medical stocks should continue to pay close attention to the company.


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