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Has Novartis (NVS) Outpaced Other Medical Stocks This Year?

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Investors interested in Medical stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Is Novartis (NVS - 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.

Novartis is one of 889 individual stocks in the Medical sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #2 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different groups, measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the sector to gauge the strength of each group.

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

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for NVS's full-year earnings has moved 1.83% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Our latest available data shows that NVS has returned about 1.75% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Medical group have gained about 0.97% on average. As we can see, Novartis is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

To break things down more, NVS belongs to the Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry, a group that includes 14 individual companies and currently sits at #94 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 4.99% 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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