Are Utilities Stocks Lagging Fortis (FTS) This Year?

Investors interested in Utilities stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. 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 a member of our Utilities group, which includes 107 different companies and currently sits at #5 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 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. Fortis is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for FTS' full-year earnings has moved 3.9% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

According to our latest data, FTS has moved about 8.5% on a year-to-date basis. In comparison, Utilities companies have returned an average of 6.7%. As we can see, Fortis is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Another stock in the Utilities sector, IdaCorp (IDA), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 12%.

In IdaCorp's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 0.1% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Fortis belongs to the Utility - Electric Power industry, which includes 58 individual stocks and currently sits at #87 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 9.7% this year, meaning that FTS is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns. IdaCorp is also part of the same industry.

Fortis and IdaCorp 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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