For those looking to find strong Utilities stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Has Fortis (FTS) 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.

Fortis is one of 106 individual stocks in the Utilities sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #1 in the Zacks Sector Rank. 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 system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. 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 2.9% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

Based on the latest available data, FTS has gained about 19.7% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Utilities sector has returned an average of 7.4% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Fortis is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.

One other Utilities stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Iberdrola S.A. (IBDRY). The stock is up 32.2% year-to-date.

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

To break things down more, Fortis belongs to the Utility - Electric Power industry, a group that includes 60 individual companies and currently sits at #54 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 7.9% so far this year, so FTS is performing better in this area. Iberdrola S.A. is also part of the same industry.

Fortis and Iberdrola S.A. could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Utilities stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.

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

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