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 107 individual stocks in the Utilities sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #6 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. Energias de Portugal is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for EDPFY's full-year earnings has moved 7.6% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.
Our latest available data shows that EDPFY has returned about 11.3% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Utilities group have gained about 4.6% on average. As we can see, Energias de Portugal is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.
One other Utilities stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is ENGIE BRASL EGA (EGIEY). The stock is up 9.1% year-to-date.
For ENGIE BRASL EGA, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 37.7% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Looking more specifically, Energias de Portugal belongs to the Utility - Electric Power industry, a group that includes 58 individual stocks and currently sits at #87 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 4.9% so far this year, so EDPFY is performing better in this area. ENGIE BRASL EGA is also part of the same industry.
Energias de Portugal and ENGIE BRASL EGA 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
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
