Yahoo Finance 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. Is Atmos Energy (ATO) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.
Atmos Energy is a member of our Utilities group, which includes 106 different companies and currently sits at #6 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 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. Atmos Energy is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ATO's full-year earnings has moved 0.4% higher within the past quarter. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.
Our latest available data shows that ATO has returned about 1.1% since the start of the calendar year. Meanwhile, stocks in the Utilities group have lost about 7.6% on average. As we can see, Atmos Energy is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.
One other Utilities stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year is NiSource (NI). The stock is up 3.9% year-to-date.
Over the past three months, NiSource's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 0.1%. 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 #192 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have lost 1.7% this year, meaning that ATO is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.
In contrast, NiSource falls under the Utility - Electric Power industry. Currently, this industry has 59 stocks and is ranked #100. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved -9.2%.
Going forward, investors interested in Utilities stocks should continue to pay close attention to Atmos Energy and NiSource as they could maintain their solid performance.
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Atmos Energy Corporation (ATO) : Free Stock Analysis Report
NiSource, Inc (NI) : Free Stock Analysis Report
