Is Quidel (QDEL) Outperforming Other Medical Stocks This Year?

Investors interested in Medical stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Has Quidel (QDEL) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Quidel is a member of the Medical sector. This group includes 902 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #9. 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 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. QDEL is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for QDEL's full-year earnings has moved 150% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Our latest available data shows that QDEL has returned about 276.48% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Medical sector has returned an average of 0.98% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Quidel is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Breaking things down more, QDEL is a member of the Medical - Products industry, which includes 81 individual companies and currently sits at #185 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have lost about 2.52% so far this year, so QDEL is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

Going forward, investors interested in Medical stocks should continue to pay close attention to QDEL 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.