Altria (MO) Dips More Than Broader Market: What You Should Know
In the latest close session, Altria (MO) was down 1.76% at $67.51. The stock's change was less than the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.25%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.86%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.24%.
Heading into today, shares of the owner of Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette maker had lost 1.22% over the past month, outpacing the Consumer Staples sector's loss of 4.32% and lagging the S&P 500's loss of 0.42%.
Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of Altria in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company's earnings report is set to be unveiled on October 29, 2026. The company's upcoming EPS is projected at $1.5, signifying a 3.45% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $5.33 billion, showing a 1.49% escalation compared to the year-ago quarter.
For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $5.67 per share and a revenue of $20.63 billion, representing changes of +4.61% and +2.46%, respectively, from the prior year.
It's also important for investors to be aware of any recent modifications to analyst estimates for Altria. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. Consequently, upward revisions in estimates express analysts' positivity towards the business operations and its ability to generate profits.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To exploit this, we've formed the Zacks Rank, a quantitative model that includes these estimate changes and presents a viable 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. Over the past month, there's been no change in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. Altria is currently a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
With respect to valuation, Altria is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 12.11. This represents a discount compared to its industry average Forward P/E of 13.1.
One should further note that MO currently holds a PEG ratio of 2.44. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. As the market closed yesterday, the Tobacco industry was having an average PEG ratio of 2.05.
The Tobacco industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 239, positioning it in the bottom 3% of all 250+ industries.
The strength of our individual industry groups is measured by the Zacks Industry Rank, which is calculated based on the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within these 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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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
