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Altria (MO) Falls More Steeply Than Broader Market: What Investors Need to Know

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Altria (MO - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $42.61, moving -1.18% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.85%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.75%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.96%.

Heading into today, shares of the owner of Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette maker had gained 0.19% over the past month, outpacing the Consumer Staples sector's loss of 4.85% and the S&P 500's loss of 3.02% in that time.

Analysts and investors alike will be keeping a close eye on the performance of Altria in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company's earnings report is set to go public on October 26, 2023. On that day, Altria is projected to report earnings of $1.29 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 0.78%. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $5.48 billion, indicating a 1.25% growth compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $4.95 per share and revenue of $20.81 billion, which would represent changes of +2.27% and +0.6%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Altria. 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.

Our research demonstrates that these adjustments in estimates directly associate with imminent stock price performance. To take advantage of this, we've established the Zacks Rank, an exclusive model that considers these estimated changes and delivers an operational rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 1.08% lower within the past month. Currently, Altria is carrying a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

With respect to valuation, Altria is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 8.71. This expresses a discount compared to the average Forward P/E of 8.84 of its industry.

Meanwhile, MO's PEG ratio is currently 2.33. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. The Tobacco industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.21 as of yesterday's close.

The Tobacco industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 238, finds itself in the bottom 6% echelons of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the strength of our separate industry groups by calculating the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks contained within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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