Investors focused on the Utilities space have likely heard of Atlantic Power , but is the stock performing well in comparison to the rest of its sector peers? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.

Atlantic Power is a member of our Utilities group, which includes 122 different companies and currently sits at #12 in the Zacks Sector Rank. 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 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. AT is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AT's full-year earnings has moved 118.18% higher. This signals that analyst sentiment is improving and the stock's earnings outlook is more positive.

According to our latest data, AT has moved about 9.22% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, stocks in the Utilities group have gained about 13.95% on average. As we can see, Atlantic Power is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

Looking more specifically, AT belongs to the Utility - Electric Power industry, a group that includes 64 individual stocks and currently sits at #100 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 15.94% this year, meaning that AT is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.

Investors with an interest in Utilities stocks should continue to track AT. The stock will be looking to continue its solid performance.