Altria (MO) Stock Moves -0.15%: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Altria (MO) closed at $40.21, marking a -0.15% move from the previous day. This change was narrower than the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.94%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.04%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 2.13%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the owner of Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette maker had gained 2.49% over the past month. This has outpaced the Consumer Staples sector's loss of 1.93% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.02% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from MO as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be July 28, 2020. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.03, down 6.36% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $5.06 billion, down 2.57% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $4.25 per share and revenue of $20.32 billion, which would represent changes of +0.71% and +2.62%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for MO. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.09% higher. MO is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

In terms of valuation, MO is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 9.48. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 11.12.

Meanwhile, MO's PEG ratio is currently 1.9. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. Tobacco stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.9 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Tobacco industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 176, which puts it in the bottom 31% 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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