In the latest trading session, Altria (MO) closed at $72.19, marking a +2.25% move from the previous day. The stock's change was more than the S&P 500's daily loss of 2.65%. Elsewhere, the Dow saw a downswing of 1.35%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq depreciated by 4.18%.
Shares of the owner of Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette maker witnessed a gain of 2.26% over the previous month, beating the performance of the Consumer Staples sector with its loss of 0.58%, and underperforming the S&P 500's gain of 5.47%.
The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Altria in its upcoming release. The company is predicted to post an EPS of $1.48, indicating a 2.78% growth compared to the equivalent quarter last year. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $5.35 billion, showing a 1.06% escalation compared to the year-ago quarter.
Looking at the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $5.68 per share and revenue of $20.53 billion. These totals would mark changes of +4.8% and +1.96%, respectively, from last year.
Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Altria. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, upbeat changes in estimates indicate analysts' favorable outlook on the business health and profitability.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-term stock moves. To exploit this, we've formed the Zacks Rank, a quantitative model that includes these estimate changes and presents a viable 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. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed a 0.12% increase. Altria currently has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Altria has a Forward P/E ratio of 12.43 right now. This indicates no noticeable deviation in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 12.43.
Investors should also note that MO has a PEG ratio of 2.64 right now. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. As the market closed yesterday, the Tobacco industry was having an average PEG ratio of 2.02.
The Tobacco industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 205, placing it within the bottom 16% of over 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.
To follow MO in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.
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Altria Group, Inc. (MO): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).