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Altria (MO) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Altria (MO - Free Report) closed at $54.45, marking a +0.63% move from the previous day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 1.69% loss on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 1.19%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.14%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the owner of Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette maker had gained 7.19% over the past month. This has lagged the Consumer Staples sector's gain of 7.63% and the S&P 500's gain of 7.88% in that time.

Altria will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be April 28, 2022. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.09, up 1.87% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $4.8 billion, down 1.6% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $4.84 per share and revenue of $20.91 billion. These totals would mark changes of +4.99% and -0.95%, respectively, from last year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Altria should also be noted by investors. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.21% lower. Altria is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note Altria's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 11.19. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 10.48.

We can also see that MO currently has a PEG ratio of 2.8. 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 was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.78 at yesterday's closing price.

The Tobacco industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 234, which puts it in the bottom 8% 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.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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