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Altria (MO) Stock Moves -1.31%: What You Should Know

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Altria (MO - Free Report) closed at $38.57 in the latest trading session, marking a -1.31% move from the prior day. This move was narrower than the S&P 500's daily loss of 1.86%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 2.3%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 1.64%.

Heading into today, shares of the owner of Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette maker had gained 1.96% over the past month, lagging the Consumer Staples sector's gain of 5.08% and the S&P 500's gain of 7.63% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from MO as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be October 30, 2020. In that report, analysts expect MO to post earnings of $1.15 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 6.48%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $5.52 billion, up 2.02% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $4.32 per share and revenue of $20.49 billion, which would represent changes of +2.37% and +3.51%, respectively, from the prior year.

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

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.32% higher within the past month. MO is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note MO's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 9.04. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 11.07, so we one might conclude that MO is trading at a discount comparatively.

Investors should also note that MO has a PEG ratio of 2.26 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 was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.04 at yesterday's closing price.

The Tobacco industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 123, putting it in the top 49% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. 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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