In the latest trading session, Altria (MO) closed at $65.62, marking a -1.78% move from the previous day. The stock fell short of the S&P 500, which registered a gain of 1.18% for the day. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a rise of 0.66%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw an increase of 1.96%.
Coming into today, shares of the owner of Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette maker had lost 1.07% in the past month. In that same time, the Consumer Staples sector lost 1.99%, while the S&P 500 gained 3.93%.
Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of Altria in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company's earnings report is set to be unveiled on April 30, 2026. The company is predicted to post an EPS of $1.24, indicating a 0.81% growth compared to the equivalent quarter last year. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $4.56 billion, up 0.86% from the prior-year quarter.
Regarding the entire year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates forecast earnings of $5.61 per share and revenue of $20.15 billion, indicating changes of +3.51% and +0.08%, respectively, compared to the previous year.
Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for Altria. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As a result, upbeat changes in estimates indicate analysts' favorable outlook on the business health and profitability.
Our research demonstrates that these adjustments in estimates directly associate with imminent stock price performance. 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, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.12% higher. Altria is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
In the context of valuation, Altria is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 11.9. This indicates a discount in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 12.21.
Investors should also note that MO has a PEG ratio of 2.68 right now. 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. By the end of yesterday's trading, the Tobacco industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.91.
The Tobacco industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 218, positioning it in the bottom 11% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the vigor of our specific industry groups by computing the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks incorporated in 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
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).