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

Altria (MO) closed at $39.13 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.41% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.31%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 1.9%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 1.01%.

MO will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. On that day, MO is projected to report earnings of $1.02 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 7.27%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $5.06 billion, down 2.57% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $4.24 per share and revenue of $20.30 billion. These totals would mark changes of +0.47% and +2.57%, respectively, from last year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for MO. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.29% lower. MO is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that MO has a Forward P/E ratio of 9.26 right now. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 11.01, so we one might conclude that MO is trading at a discount comparatively.

Meanwhile, MO's PEG ratio is currently 1.85. 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 was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.85 at yesterday's closing price.

The Tobacco industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 91, which puts it in the top 36% 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.

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

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