Are Utilities Stocks Lagging Iberdrola (IBDRY) This Year?

The Utilities group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Iberdrola S.A. (IBDRY) 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? By taking a look at the stock's year-to-date performance in comparison to its Utilities peers, we might be able to answer that question.

Iberdrola S.A. is a member of our Utilities group, which includes 107 different companies and currently sits at #3 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 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. Iberdrola S.A. is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for IBDRY's full-year earnings has moved 1.2% higher within the past quarter. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Our latest available data shows that IBDRY has returned about 8.2% since the start of the calendar year. In comparison, Utilities companies have returned an average of 5.2%. This means that Iberdrola S.A. is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Another stock in the Utilities sector, NextEra Energy (NEE), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 11.5%.

The consensus estimate for NextEra Energy's current year EPS has increased 0.9% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Iberdrola S.A. belongs to the Utility - Electric Power industry, which includes 58 individual stocks and currently sits at #83 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 5.5% so far this year, meaning that IBDRY is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns. NextEra Energy is also part of the same industry.

Going forward, investors interested in Utilities stocks should continue to pay close attention to Iberdrola S.A. and NextEra Energy 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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Source Zacks-com