Altria: 4Q Earnings Snapshot

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Altria Group (MO) on Thursday reported a fourth-quarter loss of $1.81 billion, after reporting a profit in the same period a year earlier.

The Richmond, Virginia-based company said it had a loss of $1 per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were $1.02 per share.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.01 per share.

The owner of Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette maker posted revenue of $6.01 billion in the period. Its adjusted revenue was $4.8 billion, which fell short of Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $4.9 billion.

Altria expects full-year earnings in the range of $4.39 to $4.51 per share.

Altria shares have increased slightly since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has increased slightly more than 1%. The stock has increased 9% in the last 12 months.

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This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on MO at https://www.zacks.com/ap/MO