For those looking to find strong Medical stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Adaptive Biotechnologies (ADPT) 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.

Adaptive Biotechnologies is one of 1022 companies in the Medical group. The Medical group currently sits at #3 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 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. Adaptive Biotechnologies is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ADPT's full-year earnings has moved 9.6% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

Based on the latest available data, ADPT has gained about 16.9% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Medical sector has returned an average of 2.2% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, Adaptive Biotechnologies is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Another Medical stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Cardinal Health (CAH). The stock has returned 21.7% year-to-date.

For Cardinal Health, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 2.7% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, Adaptive Biotechnologies belongs to the Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry, a group that includes 504 individual companies and currently sits at #61 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has lost an average of 5.3% so far this year, meaning that ADPT is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, Cardinal Health falls under the Medical - Dental Supplies industry. Currently, this industry has 17 stocks and is ranked #149. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +5.7%.

Investors with an interest in Medical stocks should continue to track Adaptive Biotechnologies and Cardinal Health. These stocks will be looking to continue their solid performance.

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