For those looking to find strong Utilities stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Has Avista (AVA) been one of those stocks this year? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Avista is a member of the Utilities sector. This group includes 104 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #5. 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 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. Avista is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AVA'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, AVA has gained about 8.4% so far this year. At the same time, Utilities stocks have gained an average of 4.1%. This means that Avista is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

Another stock in the Utilities sector, E.ON SE (EONGY), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 22.9%.

In E.ON SE's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 1.7% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Avista belongs to the Utility - Electric Power industry, a group that includes 60 individual stocks and currently sits at #59 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 5% so far this year, so AVA is performing better in this area. E.ON SE is also part of the same industry.

Investors interested in the Utilities sector may want to keep a close eye on Avista and E.ON SE as they attempt to continue their solid performance.

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

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