The second-quarter earnings season is drawing to a close. As of Jul 29, 317 S&P 500 members have come up with quarterly results, putting up an aggregate earnings decline of 3.3% on a 0.9% drop in revenues. Coming to beat ratios, 72.9% of the companies came ahead of earnings estimates while 53.6% surpassed revenue expectations.

The picture that has emerged shows clearly that we are into another quarter of an earnings decline for the S&P 500 index. In fact, earnings growth is projected to be in negative territory for the fifth straight quarter.

It is going to be another busy week ahead with 1,090 companies, including 116 S&P 500 members, scheduled to report second-quarter earnings.

Eight out of the 16 sectors in the Zacks coverage universe are expected to witness an earnings decline. Overall, earnings are expected to be down 3.4% from the same period last year on a 0.4% decline in revenues. The Energy sector is anticipated to witness the steepest plunge with earnings likely to decline 84% on a 26% drop in revenues, on a year-over-year basis.

Meanwhile, among the outperformers, we have the Utility sector among the top this season. Utilities are expected to witness second-quarter earnings growth of 20.4% supported by a 5.2% improvement in revenues. For more details, you can read our weekly Earnings Preview report.

For gas utilities, the clean burning nature of natural gas has led to a rise in its demand in electric generation. As a result, electric utilities are now eschewing coal in favor of natural gas and other alternate sources for producing power.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts U.S. total natural gas consumption to average 76.5 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2016 and 77.7 Bcf/d in 2017, compared with 75.3 Bcf/d in 2015. For 2016, the projected rise in total natural gas consumption is mainly attributed to increasing usage in the electric power sector.

Here, let us focus on a few gas utilities reporting on Aug 4.

Sempra Energy (SRE Quick QuoteSRE - Free Report) is an energy services holding company. Our proven model does not conclusively show that Sempra Energy is likely to beat earnings this quarter. This is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen.

The Earnings ESP for Sempra is +3.00% because the Most Accurate estimate stands at $1.03, while the Zacks Consensus Estimate is pegged slightly lower at $1.00.However, Sempra Energy has a Zacks Rank #4.

As it is, we caution against Sell-rated stocks (#4 or #5) going into an earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions. (Read more: Sempra Energy Q2 Earnings: Stock to Disappoint?)

National Fuel Gas Company (NFG Quick QuoteNFG - Free Report) , a Zacks Rank #3 stock, is engaged in the business of owning and holding securities issued by its subsidiary companies. The Most Accurate Estimate is pegged at 64 cents while the Zacks Consensus Estimate stands lower at 63 cents, resulting in an Earnings ESP of +1.59%.

National Fuel’s positive ESP, combined with its favorable Zacks Rank, makes us fairly confident of an earnings beat this season.

Chesapeake Utilities Corporation (CPK Quick QuoteCPK - Free Report) , a Zacks Rank #2 stock, is a utility company engaged in natural gas distribution and transmission, propane distribution and marketing, advanced information services and other related businesses. Both the Most Accurate Estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate are pegged at 49 cents, resulting in an Earnings ESP of 0.00%.

Though Chesapeake’s Rank #2 increases the predictive power of an earnings beat, its 0.00% ESP makes an earnings beat uncertain this quarter.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >>