Are Medical Stocks Lagging Cardinal Health (CAH) 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 Cardinal Health (CAH) 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.

Cardinal Health is a member of our Medical group, which includes 1074 different companies and currently sits at #9 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 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. Cardinal Health is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for CAH's full-year earnings has moved 4% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Based on the most recent data, CAH has returned 6.2% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Medical group have lost about 0.3% on average. This means that Cardinal Health is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

CSL Limited Sponsored ADR (CSLLY) is another Medical stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 0.8%.

The consensus estimate for CSL Limited Sponsored ADR's current year EPS has increased 13.5% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Cardinal Health belongs to the Medical - Dental Supplies industry, a group that includes 15 individual stocks and currently sits at #112 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 16.1% this year, meaning that CAH is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.

CSL Limited Sponsored ADR, however, belongs to the Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry. Currently, this 520-stock industry is ranked #99. The industry has moved -13% so far this year.

Cardinal Health and CSL Limited Sponsored ADR could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Medical stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.

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