For those looking to find strong Utilities stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Is Energias de Portugal (EDPFY) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.
Energias de Portugal is one of 108 companies in the Utilities group. The Utilities group currently sits at #6 within the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different sector groups. The average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups is measured, and the sectors are listed from best to worst.
The Zacks Rank is a successful stock-picking model that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions. The system highlights a number of different stocks that could be poised to outperform the broader market over the next one to three months. Energias de Portugal is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for EDPFY's full-year earnings has moved 3.9% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.
Based on the latest available data, EDPFY has gained about 40.8% so far this year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Utilities group have gained about 12% on average. As we can see, Energias de Portugal is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.
Another Utilities stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is IdaCorp (IDA). The stock has returned 14.9% year-to-date.
In IdaCorp's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 0.4% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
To break things down more, Energias de Portugal belongs to the Utility - Electric Power industry, a group that includes 59 individual companies and currently sits at #64 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 11.5% so far this year, meaning that EDPFY is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns. IdaCorp is also part of the same industry.
Energias de Portugal 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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Energias de Portugal (EDPFY): Free Stock Analysis Report IDACORP, Inc. (IDA): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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