Altria (MO) closed the latest trading day at $53.84, indicating a +1.6% change from the previous session's end. The stock's performance was ahead of the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.09%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a gain of 1.18%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq increased by 1.03%.
Coming into today, shares of the owner of Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette maker had lost 5.43% in the past month. In that same time, the Consumer Staples sector lost 2.12%, while the S&P 500 lost 0.71%.
Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Altria in its upcoming release. The company is forecasted to report an EPS of $1.28, showcasing an 8.47% upward movement from the corresponding quarter of the prior year. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $5.04 billion, up 0.29% from the year-ago period.
For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $5.12 per share and revenue of $20.38 billion, which would represent changes of +3.43% and -0.61%, respectively, from the prior year.
It's also important for investors to be aware of any recent modifications to analyst estimates for Altria. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. Hence, positive alterations in estimates signify analyst optimism regarding the company's business and profitability.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, stretching from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has a noteworthy track record of outperforming, validated by third-party audits, with stocks rated #1 producing an average annual return of +25% since the year 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.1% higher. Altria presently features a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
With respect to valuation, Altria is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 10.36. This indicates no noticeable deviation in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 10.36.
Investors should also note that MO has a PEG ratio of 2.92 right now. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. By the end of yesterday's trading, the Tobacco industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.53.
The Tobacco industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 221, putting it in the bottom 12% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our 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 use Zacks.com to monitor all these stock-influencing metrics, and more, throughout the forthcoming trading sessions.
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