In the latest close session, Altria (MO) was down 1.76% at $56.30. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.64% gain on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 1.23%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.69%.
Shares of the owner of Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette maker have depreciated by 1.17% over the course of the past month, underperforming the Consumer Staples sector's loss of 0.94%, and the S&P 500's gain of 0.55%.
The upcoming earnings release of Altria will be of great interest to investors. In that report, analysts expect Altria to post earnings of $1.3 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 0.78%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $5 billion, down 2.04% from the year-ago period.
For the annual period, the Zacks Consensus Estimates anticipate earnings of $5.44 per share and a revenue of $20.08 billion, signifying shifts of +6.25% and 0%, respectively, from the last year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Altria. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. Consequently, upward revisions in estimates express analysts' positivity towards the business operations and its ability to generate profits.
Our research suggests that these changes in estimates have a direct relationship with upcoming stock price performance. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
The Zacks Rank system, stretching from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has a noteworthy track record of outperforming, validated by third-party audits, with stocks rated #1 producing an average annual return of +25% since the year 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed an unchanged state. Altria is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).
In terms of valuation, Altria is presently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 10.3. This indicates a discount in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 11.8.
We can also see that MO currently has a PEG ratio of 3.18. 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. MO's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.78 as of yesterday's close.
The Tobacco industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 107, finds itself in the top 44% echelons of all 250+ industries.
The strength of our individual industry groups is measured by the Zacks Industry Rank, which is calculated based on the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within these groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Ensure to harness Zacks.com to stay updated with all these stock-shifting metrics, among others, in the next trading sessions.
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Altria Group, Inc. (MO): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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