Investors interested in Medical stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. DaVita (DVA) is a stock that can certainly grab the attention of many investors, but do its recent returns compare favorably to the sector as a whole? One simple way to answer this question is to take a look at the year-to-date performance of DVA and the rest of the Medical group's stocks.DaVita is a member of our Medical group, which includes 899 different companies and currently sits at #3 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 successful stock-picking model that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions. The system highlights a number of different stocks that could be poised to outperform the broader market over the next one to three months. DVA is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for DVA's full-year earnings has moved 9.01% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.According to our latest data, DVA has moved about 8.01% on a year-to-date basis. At the same time, Medical stocks have lost an average of 3.83%. This means that DaVita is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.To break things down more, DVA belongs to the Medical - Outpatient and Home Healthcare industry, a group that includes 17 individual companies and currently sits at #69 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 4.17% this year, meaning that DVA is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.Going forward, investors interested in Medical stocks should continue to pay close attention to DVA as it looks to continue its solid performance.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 DaVita Inc. (DVA): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here.