Has Gilead Sciences (GILD) Outpaced Other Medical Stocks This Year?
Investors interested in Medical stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Is Gilead Sciences (GILD) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.
Gilead Sciences is a member of our Medical group, which includes 1112 different companies and currently sits at #11 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 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. Gilead Sciences is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for GILD's full-year earnings has moved 12.9% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.
Based on the latest available data, GILD has gained about 25.3% so far this year. At the same time, Medical stocks have lost an average of 6.1%. This means that Gilead Sciences is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.
Another Medical stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). The stock has returned 19.9% year-to-date.
In GlaxoSmithKline's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 8.8% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, Gilead Sciences belongs to the Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry, which includes 510 individual stocks and currently sits at #155 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have lost 20.4% this year, meaning that GILD is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.
In contrast, GlaxoSmithKline falls under the Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry. Currently, this industry has 14 stocks and is ranked #161. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +24.7%.
Going forward, investors interested in Medical stocks should continue to pay close attention to Gilead Sciences and GlaxoSmithKline as they could maintain their solid performance.
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