Are Medical Stocks Lagging American Well (AMWL) This Year?

The Medical group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Has American Well Corporation (AMWL) been one of those stocks this year? By taking a look at the stock's year-to-date performance in comparison to its Medical peers, we might be able to answer that question.

American Well Corporation is one of 924 companies in the Medical group. The Medical group currently sits at #9 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 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. American Well Corporation is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AMWL's full-year earnings has moved 36.6% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Our latest available data shows that AMWL has returned about 16.7% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Medical group have lost about 6.7% on average. This shows that American Well Corporation is outperforming its peers so far this year.

One other Medical stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Annexon, Inc. (ANNX). The stock is up 1.8% year-to-date.

Over the past three months, Annexon, Inc.'s consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 5.4%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To break things down more, American Well Corporation belongs to the Medical Info Systems industry, a group that includes 42 individual companies and currently sits at #91 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have lost about 22.7% so far this year, so AMWL is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

Annexon, Inc., however, belongs to the Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry. Currently, this 444-stock industry is ranked #150. The industry has moved -0.1% so far this year.

American Well Corporation and Annexon, Inc. could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Medical stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.

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

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