The Utilities group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Has Enel Chile (ENIC) 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.
Enel Chile is one of 111 individual stocks in the Utilities sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #9 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank includes 16 different groups and is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors.
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. Enel Chile is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ENIC's full-year earnings has moved 2.9% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.
According to our latest data, ENIC has moved about 9.5% on a year-to-date basis. In comparison, Utilities companies have returned an average of -3.2%. This means that Enel Chile is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.
FirstEnergy (FE) is another Utilities stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 0.2%.
Over the past three months, FirstEnergy's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 0.1%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Breaking things down more, Enel Chile is a member of the Utility - Electric Power industry, which includes 63 individual companies and currently sits at #109 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has lost an average of 3.2% so far this year, so ENIC is performing better in this area. FirstEnergy is also part of the same industry.
Enel Chile and FirstEnergy could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Utilities stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.
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Enel Chile S.A. (ENIC): Free Stock Analysis Report
FirstEnergy Corporation (FE): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).