Is Healthcare Services Group (HCSG) Outperforming Other Business Services Stocks This Year?
Here is how Healthcare Services (HCSG) and Kforce (KFRC) have performed compared to their sector so far this year.
The Business Services group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Is Healthcare Services (HCSG) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.
Healthcare Services is a member of our Business Services group, which includes 246 different companies and currently sits at #9 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different groups, measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the sector to gauge the strength of each group.
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. Healthcare Services is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for HCSG's full-year earnings has moved 12.9% higher within the past quarter. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.
Our latest available data shows that HCSG has returned about 20.3% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Business Services sector has returned an average of -8.6% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, Healthcare Services is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.
Another stock in the Business Services sector, Kforce (KFRC), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 88%.
The consensus estimate for Kforce's current year EPS has increased 2% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, Healthcare Services belongs to the Business - Services industry, which includes 20 individual stocks and currently sits at #193 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have lost 10.7% this year, meaning that HCSG is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.
On the other hand, Kforce belongs to the Staffing Firms industry. This 12-stock industry is currently ranked #96. The industry has moved +58.5% year to date.
Investors with an interest in Business Services stocks should continue to track Healthcare Services and Kforce. These stocks will be looking to continue their solid performance.
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Healthcare Services Group, Inc. (HCSG): Free Stock Analysis Report
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).