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

Altria (MO) closed at $48.36 in the latest trading session, marking a -1.47% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.12% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.08%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.54%.

Coming into today, shares of the owner of Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette maker had lost 4.16% in the past month. In that same time, the Consumer Staples sector gained 1.5%, while the S&P 500 gained 3.68%.

MO will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be July 30, 2019. On that day, MO is projected to report earnings of $1.09 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 7.92%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $5.05 billion, up 3.55% from the prior-year quarter.

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.

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It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for MO. 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 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 0.03% higher. MO is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Looking at its valuation, MO is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 11.75. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 12.08.

Also, we should mention that MO has a PEG ratio of 1.54. 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 1.54 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Tobacco industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 114, putting it in the top 45% 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.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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