The latest trading session saw Altria (MO) ending at $52.51, denoting a +0.42% adjustment from its last day's close. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.22% loss on the day. On the other hand, the Dow registered a loss of 0.36%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq decreased by 0.16%.
The owner of Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette maker's stock has dropped by 7.37% in the past month, falling short of the Consumer Staples sector's loss of 5.7% and the S&P 500's loss of 2.36%.
Analysts and investors alike will be keeping a close eye on the performance of Altria in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company's earnings report is set to go public on January 30, 2025. In that report, analysts expect Altria to post earnings of $1.28 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 8.47%. Alongside, our most recent consensus estimate is anticipating revenue of $5.04 billion, indicating a 0.29% upward movement from the same quarter last year.
Furthermore, it would be beneficial for investors to monitor any recent shifts in analyst projections for Altria. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. Consequently, upward revisions in estimates express analysts' positivity towards the company's business operations and its ability to generate profits.
Our research demonstrates that these adjustments in estimates directly associate with imminent stock price performance. 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, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed a 0.47% increase. Right now, Altria possesses a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Looking at valuation, Altria is presently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 9.81. This indicates no noticeable deviation in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 9.81.
Also, we should mention that MO has a PEG ratio of 2.77. 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. The Tobacco industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.34 as of yesterday's close.
The Tobacco industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 171, putting it in the bottom 32% 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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Altria Group, Inc. (MO) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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