The Medical group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Has Acadia Healthcare (ACHC) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Acadia Healthcare is a member of the Medical sector. This group includes 1076 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #6. The Zacks Sector Rank gauges the strength of our 16 individual sector groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups.

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. Acadia Healthcare is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ACHC's full-year earnings has moved 1% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

Our latest available data shows that ACHC has returned about 8.2% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, the Medical sector has returned an average of -0.7% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Acadia Healthcare is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

One other Medical stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Achilles Therapeutics PLC Sponsored ADR (ACHL). The stock is up 1.2% year-to-date.

The consensus estimate for Achilles Therapeutics PLC Sponsored ADR's current year EPS has increased 14.8% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Acadia Healthcare belongs to the Medical - Hospital industry, a group that includes 5 individual stocks and currently sits at #34 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 17.5% so far this year, so ACHC is slightly underperforming its industry this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

Achilles Therapeutics PLC Sponsored ADR, however, belongs to the Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry. Currently, this 522-stock industry is ranked #94. The industry has moved -13% so far this year.

Acadia Healthcare and Achilles Therapeutics PLC Sponsored ADR could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Medical stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report