Is Ligand Pharmaceuticals (LGND) Stock Outpacing Its Medical Peers This Year?
Investors focused on the Medical space have likely heard of Ligand Pharmaceuticals (LGND), 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.
Ligand Pharmaceuticals is one of 756 individual stocks in the Medical sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #7 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 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. LGND is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).
Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for LGND's full-year earnings has moved 32.56% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.
Our latest available data shows that LGND has returned about 88.26% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Medical sector has returned an average of 8.59% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Ligand Pharmaceuticals is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.
Looking more specifically, LGND belongs to the Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry, a group that includes 280 individual stocks and currently sits at #98 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 0.11% so far this year, so LGND 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 LGND as it attempts to continue its solid performance.
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