On Nov 27, we issued an updated research report on Medtronic plc MDT. Increased adoption of the company's globally-accepted advanced therapies is encouraging. The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Over the past six months, Medtronic has outperformed the industry it belongs to. The stock has improved 18.1% compared with the industry's 2.7% rise.Medtronic’s second-quarter fiscal 2021 earnings and revenues were ahead of the respective Zacks Consensus Estimate. The company reported sequential improvement in all its businesses and geographies leading to faster-than-expected recovery. Despite the rising number of COVID-19 cases rising in many of the company’s markets, October was better than September in all its groups and regions, except for China, given the impact of the national tender in drug-eluting stents.In the fiscal second quarter, recovery within Minimally Invasive Therapies Group (MITG) was the fastest, with its growth rate increasing by over 20 points in both Surgical Innovations (SI) and Respiratory, Gastrointestinal (GI) and Renal. Surgical Innovations benefitted from increased elective procedure volumes in Europe and the United States driven in part by elective procedures that were delayed from the spring and early summer. Cardiac & Vascular Group (CVG) and Restorative Therapies Group (RTG) too delivered double-digit improvements sequentially with increased procedure volumes and share capture and several businesses returned to growth from the prior year.Medtronic PLC Price Medtronic PLC price | Medtronic PLC QuoteBased on the ongoing strong recovery in sales, Medtronic expects fiscal third-quarter MITG growth to be in the low single digits. RTG and Diabetes should deliver improvements from the second quarter with an expected year-over-year decline in low single digits. CVG is expected to report roughly flat sales as the company continues to recover and take share.The company expects to return to normal organic revenue growth on a two-year stacked basis by the fiscal fourth quarter.On the flip side, amid the pandemic, Medtronic’s business has been affected by three main factors. The first is the mix of urgent procedures versus those that are more deferrable. Almost all of Medtronic’s businesses are affected by the decline in procedure volumes. Medtronic’s businesses that had a larger mix of products using urgent procedures saw an impact. However, the company noted that in the first quarter, procedural volume has started to rebound. The second factor that hampered growth is the loss of large bulk purchases due to depressed demand related to the pandemic. The third factor is centered around capital equipment. While capital equipment represents a small amount of Medtronic’s overall revenues, there are certain businesses that have a higher mix and felt the impact of hospitals and surgery centers delaying their capital evaluation and purchases.Zacks Rank & Key PicksCurrently, Medtronic carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).Some better-ranked stocks from the broader medical space include Align Technology ALGN, Cardinal Health CAH and Thermo Fisher Scientific TMO, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.Align Technology has a projected long-term earnings growth rate of 18.3%.Cardinal Health has a projected long-term earnings growth rate of 5.5%.Thermo Fisher has an estimated long-term earnings growth rate of 18%.The Hottest Tech Mega-Trend of AllLast year, it generated $24 billion in global revenues. By 2020, it's predicted to blast through the roof to $77.6 billion. Famed investor Mark Cuban says it will produce "the world's first trillionaires," but that should still leave plenty of money for regular investors who make the right trades early.See Zacks' 3 Best Stocks to Play This Trend >>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 Medtronic PLC (MDT): Free Stock Analysis Report Cardinal Health, Inc. (CAH): Free Stock Analysis Report Align Technology, Inc. (ALGN): Free Stock Analysis Report Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (TMO): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research