The Utilities group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Fortis (FTS) 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? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Fortis is a member of our Utilities group, which includes 106 different companies and currently sits at #1 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 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. Fortis is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for FTS' full-year earnings has moved 1.2% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

Based on the latest available data, FTS has gained about 15.7% so far this year. At the same time, Utilities stocks have gained an average of 3.3%. This means that Fortis is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Iberdrola S.A. (IBDRY) is another Utilities stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 26.9%.

In Iberdrola S.A.'s case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 5% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Looking more specifically, Fortis belongs to the Utility - Electric Power industry, which includes 60 individual stocks and currently sits at #37 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 3.6% so far this year, so FTS 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 Fortis 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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