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

Altria (MO) closed the most recent trading day at $49.19, moving +1.21% from the previous trading session. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.77%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.67%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.75%.

Coming into today, shares of the owner of Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette maker had lost 3.61% in the past month. In that same time, the Consumer Staples sector gained 6.02%, while the S&P 500 gained 8.19%.

MO will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be July 30, 2019. In that report, analysts expect MO to post earnings of $1.09 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 7.92%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $5.05 billion, up 3.55% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $4.18 per share and revenue of $19.66 billion. These totals would mark changes of +4.76% and +0.17%, respectively, from last year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for MO. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.03% higher. MO is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note MO's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 11.64. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 11.92, which means MO is trading at a discount to the group.

Investors should also note that MO has a PEG ratio of 1.52 right now. 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. Tobacco stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.52 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Tobacco industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 166, putting it in the bottom 36% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. 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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