Are Medical Stocks Lagging Akebia Therapeutics (AKBA) This Year?

Company Performance - Akebia Therapeutics (AKBA) has returned 94% year-to-date, significantly outperforming the average return of -7.8% for the Medical sector [4] - The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AKBA's full-year earnings has increased by 34.4% over the past three months, indicating a stronger analyst sentiment and improving earnings outlook [4] - Akebia Therapeutics holds a Zacks Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), suggesting it has the characteristics to outperform the market in the near term [3] Industry Comparison - Akebia Therapeutics is part of the Medical - Drugs industry, which consists of 154 individual stocks and currently ranks 90 in the Zacks Industry Rank [6] - The Medical - Drugs industry has gained an average of 3.6% year-to-date, indicating that AKBA is performing better than its industry peers [6] - In contrast, Alignment Healthcare (ALHC), another outperforming stock in the Medical sector, belongs to the Medical Services industry, which has returned -7.7% year-to-date and ranks 85 [6]