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Are Utilities Stocks Lagging Entergy (ETR) This Year?

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Investors interested in Utilities stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Is Entergy (ETR - Free Report) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Entergy is a member of the Utilities sector. This group includes 112 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #5. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different groups, measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the sector to gauge the strength of each group.

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. Entergy is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ETR's full-year earnings has moved 0.3% higher within the past quarter. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.

According to our latest data, ETR has moved about 21.2% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, the Utilities sector has returned an average of 3% on a year-to-date basis. As we can see, Entergy is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

OGE Energy (OGE - Free Report) is another Utilities stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 19.6%.

Over the past three months, OGE Energy's consensus EPS estimate for the current year has increased 6.1%. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, Entergy belongs to the Utility - Electric Power industry, a group that includes 63 individual stocks and currently sits at #78 in the Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks in this group have gained about 3.8% so far this year, so ETR is performing better this group in terms of year-to-date returns. OGE Energy is also part of the same industry.

Entergy and OGE Energy could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Utilities stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.

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