The Utilities group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Is American Water Works (AWK) one of those stocks right now? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Utilities sector should help us answer this question.

American Water Works is one of 104 companies in the Utilities group. The Utilities group currently sits at #5 within 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 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. American Water Works is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AWK's full-year earnings has moved 0.3% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the most recent data, AWK has returned 6.6% so far this year. In comparison, Utilities companies have returned an average of 4.6%. As we can see, American Water Works is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Another stock in the Utilities sector, NRG Energy (NRG), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 17.5%.

The consensus estimate for NRG Energy's current year EPS has increased 29.8% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Looking more specifically, American Water Works belongs to the Utility - Water Supply industry, a group that includes 12 individual stocks and currently sits at #88 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, this group has gained an average of 6.7% so far this year, meaning that AWK is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.

NRG Energy, however, belongs to the Utility - Electric Power industry. Currently, this 60-stock industry is ranked #86. The industry has moved +4.5% so far this year.

Going forward, investors interested in Utilities stocks should continue to pay close attention to American Water Works and NRG Energy as they could maintain their solid performance.

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American Water Works Company, Inc. (AWK) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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

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