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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 $45.67, moving -1.34% from the previous trading session. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.46%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 1%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.17%.

Coming into today, shares of the owner of Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette maker had lost 14.66% in the past month. In that same time, the Consumer Staples sector lost 7.99%, while the S&P 500 lost 6.94%.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Altria as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be July 28, 2022. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.24, up 0.81% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $5.41 billion, down 3.67% from the year-ago period.

MO's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $4.84 per share and revenue of $20.92 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +4.99% and -0.9%, respectively.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Altria. 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.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.09% lower. Altria is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Looking at its valuation, Altria is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 9.57. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 9.46.

It is also worth noting that MO currently has a PEG ratio of 2.39. 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 1.65 as of yesterday's close.

The Tobacco industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 171, putting it in the bottom 33% 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.

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


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