Yahoo Finance Are Medical Stocks Lagging Ardelyx (ARDX) This Year?
For those looking to find strong Medical stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Ardelyx (ARDX) is a stock that can certainly grab the attention of many investors, but do its recent returns compare favorably to the sector as a whole? 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.
Ardelyx is one of 1174 companies in the Medical group. The Medical group currently sits at #5 within 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 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. Ardelyx is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ARDX's full-year earnings has moved 6.4% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.
Our latest available data shows that ARDX has returned about 6.7% since the start of the calendar year. In comparison, Medical companies have returned an average of -1.4%. As we can see, Ardelyx is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.
One other Medical stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Agile Therapeutics (AGRX). The stock is up 16.8% year-to-date.
Over the past three months, Agile Therapeutics' consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 40.5%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Breaking things down more, Ardelyx is a member of the Medical - Drugs industry, which includes 217 individual companies and currently sits at #103 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 7.7% so far this year, so ARDX is slightly underperforming its industry in this area.
Agile Therapeutics, however, belongs to the Medical - Generic Drugs industry. Currently, this 17-stock industry is ranked #104. The industry has moved +15% so far this year.
Ardelyx and Agile Therapeutics could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Medical stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.
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