Has AbbVie (ABBV) Outpaced Other Medical Stocks This Year?

Investors focused on the Medical space have likely heard of AbbVie (ABBV), 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.

AbbVie is one of 903 individual stocks in the Medical sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #5 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. ABBV is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ABBV’s full-year earnings has moved 2.90% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Our latest available data shows that ABBV has returned about 9.68% since the start of the calendar year. In comparison, Medical companies have returned an average of 1.03%. As we can see, AbbVie is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Looking more specifically, ABBV belongs to the Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry, which includes 15 individual stocks and currently sits at #45 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 1.71% this year, meaning that ABBV is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

Investors in the Medical sector will want to keep a close eye on ABBV as it attempts to continue its solid performance.

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