The Utilities group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. CMS Energy (CMS) 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? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

CMS Energy is a member of our Utilities group, which includes 106 different companies and currently sits at #1 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 is a proven system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. CMS Energy is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for CMS' full-year earnings has moved 0.1% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

Our latest available data shows that CMS has returned about 9.4% since the start of the calendar year. At the same time, Utilities stocks have gained an average of 2.6%. This means that CMS Energy is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Exelon (EXC) is another Utilities stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 25.6%.

In Exelon's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 1% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, CMS Energy belongs to the Utility - Electric Power industry, which includes 60 individual stocks and currently sits at #38 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 4.7% this year, meaning that CMS is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns. Exelon is also part of the same industry.

CMS Energy and Exelon 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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