Is Atmos Energy (ATO) Stock Outpacing Its Utilities Peers This Year?

Investors interested in Utilities stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Atmos Energy (ATO) 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.

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Atmos Energy is one of 109 individual stocks in the Utilities sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #2 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 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. Atmos Energy is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for ATO's full-year earnings has moved 0.9% higher. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

According to our latest data, ATO has moved about 9.3% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, stocks in the Utilities group have gained about 9% on average. This shows that Atmos Energy is outperforming its peers so far this year.

One other Utilities stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is UGI (UGI). The stock is up 25.4% year-to-date.

For UGI, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 3.2% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Atmos Energy belongs to the Utility - Gas Distribution industry, a group that includes 14 individual stocks and currently sits at #38 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have lost about 2.6% so far this year, so ATO is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns. UGI is also part of the same industry.

Going forward, investors interested in Utilities stocks should continue to pay close attention to Atmos Energy and UGI 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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