For those looking to find strong Medical stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. argenex SE (ARGX) 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? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

argenex SE is one of 1024 companies in the Medical group. The Medical group currently sits at #4 within the Zacks Sector Rank. 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. argenex SE is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ARGX's full-year earnings has moved 478% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Our latest available data shows that ARGX has returned about 54.7% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Medical sector has returned an average of 3.1% on a year-to-date basis. This shows that argenex SE is outperforming its peers so far this year.

One other Medical stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Novartis (NVS). The stock is up 9.5% year-to-date.

Over the past three months, Novartis' consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 1.4%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, argenex SE belongs to the Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry, a group that includes 504 individual companies and currently sits at #94 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has lost an average of 2.3% so far this year, so ARGX is performing better in this area.

In contrast, Novartis falls under the Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry. Currently, this industry has 12 stocks and is ranked #88. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +12.7%.

Investors interested in the Medical sector may want to keep a close eye on argenex SE and Novartis as they attempt to continue their solid performance.

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