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Altria (MO) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

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Altria (MO - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $50.22, moving -0.69% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.29%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.46%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.27%.

Coming into today, shares of the owner of Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette maker had gained 1.28% in the past month. In that same time, the Consumer Staples sector gained 2.74%, while the S&P 500 gained 4.56%.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from MO as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be January 30, 2020. In that report, analysts expect MO to post earnings of $1.01 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 6.32%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $4.85 billion, up 1.36% from the prior-year quarter.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for MO. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.08% lower. MO currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, MO currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 11.46. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 11.9.

Meanwhile, MO's PEG ratio is currently 1.79. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The Tobacco industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.79 as of yesterday's close.

The Tobacco industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 108, which puts it in the top 43% 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.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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