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

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Altria (MO - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $46.78, moving -0.85% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.03%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the owner of Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette maker had lost 4.14% over the past month. This has lagged the Consumer Staples sector's loss of 0.65% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.12% in that time.

MO will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be July 29, 2021. In that report, analysts expect MO to post earnings of $1.17 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 7.34%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $5.4 billion, up 6.58% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $4.57 per share and revenue of $21.4 billion, which would represent changes of +4.82% and +2.67%, respectively, from the prior year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for MO should also be noted by investors. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for 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.

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 remained stagnant within the past month. MO is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Investors should also note MO's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 10.32. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 11.39.

It is also worth noting that MO currently has a PEG ratio of 2.58. 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 2.02 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Tobacco industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 127, which puts it in the top 50% 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.

Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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