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

CenterPoint Energy is one of 104 individual stocks in the Utilities sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #4 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank gauges the strength of our 16 individual sector groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups.

The Zacks Rank emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find stocks with improving earnings outlooks. This system has a long record of success, and these stocks tend to be on track to beat the market over the next one to three months. CenterPoint Energy is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for CNP's full-year earnings has moved 0.4% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

Based on the most recent data, CNP has returned 12% so far this year. Meanwhile, the Utilities sector has returned an average of 3.4% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, CenterPoint Energy is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Another Utilities stock, which has outperformed the sector so far this year, is New Jersey Resources (NJR). The stock has returned 3.4% year-to-date.

Over the past three months, New Jersey Resources' consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 1.6%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, CenterPoint Energy belongs to the Utility - Electric Power industry, a group that includes 60 individual stocks and currently sits at #53 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 4.1% so far this year, so CNP is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns.

New Jersey Resources, however, belongs to the Utility - Gas Distribution industry. Currently, this 13-stock industry is ranked #43. The industry has moved -6.8% so far this year.

Going forward, investors interested in Utilities stocks should continue to pay close attention to CenterPoint Energy and New Jersey Resources 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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