Investors interested in Utilities stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Has ENGIE - Sponsored ADR (ENGIY) been one of those stocks this year? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Utilities sector should help us answer this question.

ENGIE - Sponsored ADR is a member of the Utilities sector. This group includes 106 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #5. 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 emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find stocks with improving earnings outlooks. This system has a long record of success, and these stocks tend to be on track to beat the market over the next one to three months. ENGIE - Sponsored ADR is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ENGIY's full-year earnings has moved 4.2% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Based on the latest available data, ENGIY has gained about 26.3% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Utilities sector has returned an average of 5.9% on a year-to-date basis. This shows that ENGIE - Sponsored ADR is outperforming its peers so far this year.

Another Utilities stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is Iberdrola S.A. (IBDRY). The stock has returned 20.2% year-to-date.

Over the past three months, Iberdrola S.A.'s consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 2.8%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, ENGIE - Sponsored ADR belongs to the Utility - Electric Power industry, which includes 60 individual stocks and currently sits at #69 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 6.7% so far this year, so ENGIY is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns. Iberdrola S.A. is also part of the same industry.

Investors with an interest in Utilities stocks should continue to track ENGIE - Sponsored ADR and Iberdrola S.A. These stocks will be looking to continue their solid performance.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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