Why Altria (MO) Dipped More Than Broader Market Today
Altria (MO) closed at $43.87 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.93% move from the prior day. The stock's performance was behind the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.65%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.49%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.96%.
Heading into today, shares of the owner of Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette maker had gained 10.23% over the past month, outpacing the Consumer Staples sector's gain of 2.58% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.27% in that time.
The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Altria in its upcoming release. The company is slated to reveal its earnings on April 25, 2024. It is anticipated that the company will report an EPS of $1.16, marking a 1.69% fall compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $4.73 billion, indicating a 0.62% decrease compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
For the annual period, the Zacks Consensus Estimates anticipate earnings of $5.07 per share and a revenue of $20.58 billion, signifying shifts of +2.42% and +0.36%, respectively, from the last year.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Altria should also be noted by investors. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.
Our research suggests that these changes in estimates have a direct relationship with upcoming stock price performance. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
The Zacks Rank system, stretching from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has a noteworthy track record of outperforming, validated by third-party audits, with stocks rated #1 producing an average annual return of +25% since the year 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has shifted 0.36% downward. At present, Altria boasts a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Altria has a Forward P/E ratio of 8.74 right now. This denotes no noticeable deviation relative to the industry's average Forward P/E of 8.74.
It's also important to note that MO currently trades at a PEG ratio of 2.68. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. The Tobacco industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.69 as trading concluded yesterday.
The Tobacco industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 92, positioning it in the top 37% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual 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.
Keep in mind to rely on Zacks.com to watch all these stock-impacting metrics, and more, in the succeeding trading sessions.
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Altria Group, Inc. (MO) : Free Stock Analysis Report
