Investors focused on the Utilities space have likely heard of American States Water (AWR), but is the stock performing well in comparison to the rest of its sector peers? One simple way to answer this question is to take a look at the year-to-date performance of AWR and the rest of the Utilities group's stocks.American States Water is one of 117 companies in the Utilities group. The Utilities group currently sits at #2 within the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank gauges the strength of our 16 individual sector groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups.The Zacks Rank is a successful stock-picking model that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions. The system highlights a number of different stocks that could be poised to outperform the broader market over the next one to three months. AWR is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AWR's full-year earnings has moved 3.24% higher within the past quarter. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.According to our latest data, AWR has moved about 1.54% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, stocks in the Utilities group have lost about 10.83% on average. This shows that American States Water is outperforming its peers so far this year.To break things down more, AWR belongs to the Utility - Water Supply industry, a group that includes 12 individual companies and currently sits at #94 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has lost an average of 7.42% so far this year, so AWR is performing better in this area.Going forward, investors interested in Utilities stocks should continue to pay close attention to AWR as it looks to continue its solid performance.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 American States Water Company (AWR): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research