The Medical group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Has Bayer Aktiengesellschaft (BAYRY) been one of those stocks this year? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Medical sector should help us answer this question.

Bayer Aktiengesellschaft is one of 1011 companies in the Medical group. The Medical group currently sits at #4 within the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different sector groups. The average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups is measured, and the sectors are listed from best to worst.

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. Bayer Aktiengesellschaft is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for BAYRY's full-year earnings has moved 5.3% higher within the past quarter. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

Based on the latest available data, BAYRY has gained about 33.4% so far this year. In comparison, Medical companies have returned an average of 4.4%. This means that Bayer Aktiengesellschaft is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Enhabit (EHAB) is another Medical stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 15.9%.

In Enhabit's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 32.1% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Bayer Aktiengesellschaft belongs to the Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry, which includes 12 individual stocks and currently sits at #69 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 6.3% so far this year, so BAYRY is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, Enhabit belongs to the Medical Services industry. This 59-stock industry is currently ranked #77. The industry has moved +5.2% year to date.

Going forward, investors interested in Medical stocks should continue to pay close attention to Bayer Aktiengesellschaft and Enhabit as they could maintain their solid performance.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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