Is Exact Sciences (EXAS) Stock Outpacing Its Medical Peers This Year?

Investors interested in Medical stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Exact Sciences (EXAS) 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? One simple way to answer this question is to take a look at the year-to-date performance of EXAS and the rest of the Medical group's stocks.

Exact Sciences is a member of the Medical sector. This group includes 889 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #3. 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. EXAS is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for EXAS's full-year earnings has moved 20.84% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

According to our latest data, EXAS has moved about 38.67% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, the Medical sector has returned an average of 0.70% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Exact Sciences is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Looking more specifically, EXAS belongs to the Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry, which includes 377 individual stocks and currently sits at #73 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has lost an average of 1.84% so far this year, meaning that EXAS is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

Going forward, investors interested in Medical stocks should continue to pay close attention to EXAS as it looks to continue its solid performance.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.