Are Utilities Stocks Lagging National Grid Transco (NGG) This Year?

For those looking to find strong Utilities stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. National Grid (NGG) 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? 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.

National Grid is one of 106 companies in the Utilities group. The Utilities group currently sits at #3 within 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. National Grid is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for NGG'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.

Based on the latest available data, NGG has gained about 22.6% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Utilities sector has returned an average of 8.3% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, National Grid is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

One other Utilities stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is Grupo Televisa (TV). The stock is up 32.7% year-to-date.

Over the past three months, Grupo Televisa's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 433.3%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, National Grid belongs to the Utility - Electric Power industry, which includes 60 individual stocks and currently sits at #68 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 8.4% this year, meaning that NGG is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

In contrast, Grupo Televisa falls under the Diversified Communication Services industry. Currently, this industry has 15 stocks and is ranked #90. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved +12.8%.

Going forward, investors interested in Utilities stocks should continue to pay close attention to National Grid and Grupo Televisa as they could maintain their solid performance.

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

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