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Altria (MO) Falls More Steeply Than Broader Market: What Investors Need to Know

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Altria (MO - Free Report) ended the recent trading session at $42.24, demonstrating a -0.75% swing from the preceding day's closing price. The stock fell short of the S&P 500, which registered a loss of 0.63% for the day. On the other hand, the Dow registered a loss of 0.51%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq decreased by 0.63%.

Shares of the owner of Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette maker have depreciated by 4.89% over the course of the past month, outperforming the Consumer Staples sector's loss of 5.19% and lagging the S&P 500's loss of 2.35%.

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 October 26, 2023. The company's upcoming EPS is projected at $1.29, signifying a 0.78% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $5.49 billion, showing a 1.43% escalation compared to the year-ago quarter.

MO's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $5 per share and revenue of $20.84 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +3.31% and +0.72%, respectively.

Additionally, investors should keep an eye on any recent revisions to analyst forecasts for Altria. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. Hence, positive alterations in estimates signify analyst optimism regarding the company's business and profitability.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. To take advantage of this, we've established the Zacks Rank, an exclusive model that considers these estimated changes and delivers an operational rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, running from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), holds an admirable track record of superior performance, independently audited, with #1 stocks contributing an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed a 0.09% decrease. Altria is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, Altria is presently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 8.51. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 8.75.

Also, we should mention that MO has a PEG ratio of 2.27. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. Tobacco stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.18 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Tobacco industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 177, this industry ranks in the bottom 30% of all industries, numbering over 250.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the strength of our separate industry groups by calculating the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks contained within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Don't forget to use Zacks.com to keep track of all these stock-moving metrics, and others, in the upcoming trading sessions.


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