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Altria (MO) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Altria (MO - Free Report) closed at $45.15, marking a +0.44% move from the previous day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.66%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.61%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.08%.

Heading into today, shares of the owner of Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette maker had gained 0.47% over the past month, outpacing the Consumer Staples sector's loss of 2.55% and the S&P 500's loss of 3.79% in that time.

Altria will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be October 27, 2022. In that report, analysts expect Altria to post earnings of $1.31 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 7.38%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $5.65 billion, up 2.13% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $4.85 per share and revenue of $20.85 billion. These totals would mark changes of +5.21% and -1.22%, respectively, from last year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Altria. 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 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 ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.15% lower within the past month. Altria is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Digging into valuation, Altria currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 9.27. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 9.18, so we one might conclude that Altria is trading at a premium comparatively.

Also, we should mention that MO has a PEG ratio of 1.43. 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. Tobacco stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.13 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 186, which puts it in the bottom 27% 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.

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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