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

In the latest trading session, Altria (MO) closed at $49.93, marking a -0.74% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.86% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 0.79%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.73%.

Heading into today, shares of the owner of Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette maker had gained 7.41% over the past month, outpacing the Consumer Staples sector's gain of 3.14% and the S&P 500's gain of 1.94% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from MO as it approaches its next earnings report date. In that report, analysts expect MO to post earnings of $1.01 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 6.32%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $4.86 billion, up 1.48% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $4.21 per share and revenue of $19.83 billion, which would represent changes of +5.51% and +1.03%, respectively, from the prior year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for MO should also be noted by investors. 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.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. MO currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note MO's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 11.96. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 12.87.

It is also worth noting that MO currently has a PEG ratio of 1.87. 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. The Tobacco industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.87 as of yesterday's close.

The Tobacco industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 97, which puts it in the top 39% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual 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.

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

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