Altria (MO) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know
In the latest trading session, Altria (MO) closed at $42.77, marking a +1.06% move from the previous day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.99%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.51%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.38%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the owner of Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette maker had gained 1.98% over the past month. This has lagged the Consumer Staples sector's gain of 4.45% and the S&P 500's gain of 7.91% in that time.
Altria will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be July 28, 2022. On that day, Altria is projected to report earnings of $1.25 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 1.63%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $5.4 billion, down 3.88% from the year-ago period.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $4.83 per share and revenue of $20.83 billion. These totals would mark changes of +4.77% and -1.32%, respectively, from last year.
It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Altria. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.18% lower within the past month. Altria is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Altria has a Forward P/E ratio of 8.76 right now. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 9.21.
Meanwhile, MO's PEG ratio is currently 2.19. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The Tobacco industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.55 as of yesterday's close.
The Tobacco industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 40, putting it in the top 16% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.
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Altria Group, Inc. (MO) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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