Altria Laps the Stock Market: Here's Why

The latest trading session saw Altria MO ending at $51.19, denoting a +0.33% adjustment from its last day's close. The stock's performance was ahead of the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.25%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.2%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.56%.

The owner of Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette maker's shares have seen a decrease of 3.21% over the last month, not keeping up with the Consumer Staples sector's gain of 1.17% and the S&P 500's gain of 1.65%.

The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Altria in its upcoming release. The company is slated to reveal its earnings on October 31, 2024. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.36, up 6.25% from the prior-year quarter. Alongside, our most recent consensus estimate is anticipating revenue of $5.35 billion, indicating a 1.4% upward movement from the same quarter last year.

In terms of the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates predict earnings of $5.11 per share and a revenue of $20.38 billion, indicating changes of +3.23% and -0.59%, respectively, from the former year.

It's also important for investors to be aware of any recent modifications to analyst estimates for Altria. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. Consequently, upward revisions in estimates express analysts' positivity towards the company's business operations and its ability to generate profits.

Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. To utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional 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 0.1% higher. Currently, Altria is carrying a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

From a valuation perspective, Altria is currently exchanging hands at a Forward P/E ratio of 9.99. This valuation marks no noticeable deviation compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 9.99.

We can also see that MO currently has a PEG ratio of 2.95. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. The Tobacco industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.18 as trading concluded yesterday.

The Tobacco industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 17, putting it in the top 7% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the strength of our separate industry groups by calculating the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks contained within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

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