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

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Altria (MO - Free Report) closed at $53.95 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.11% move from the prior day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.04%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.22%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.16%.

Heading into today, shares of the owner of Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette maker had lost 12.81% over the past month, lagging the Consumer Staples sector's loss of 3.98% and the S&P 500's loss of 4.99% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from MO as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be February 7, 2019. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.95, up 4.4% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $4.82 billion, up 22.59% from the year-ago period.

MO's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $3.99 per share and revenue of $19.65 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +18.05% and +4.98%, respectively.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for MO. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. 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 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.06% lower. MO is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Looking at its valuation, MO is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 13.37. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 12.97.

Investors should also note that MO has a PEG ratio of 1.56 right now. 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. The Tobacco industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.93 as of yesterday's close.

The Tobacco industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 173, putting it in the bottom 33% 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.

To follow MO in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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