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Altria (MO) Outperforms Broader Market: What You Need to Know

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Altria (MO - Free Report) closed at $51.21 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.79% move from the prior day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.53% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a rise of 0.93%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw an increase of 0.22%.

Shares of the owner of Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette maker have depreciated by 4.97% over the course of the past month, underperforming the Consumer Staples sector's loss of 3.04% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.69%.

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 January 30, 2025. On that day, Altria is projected to report earnings of $1.27 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 7.63%. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $5.05 billion, indicating a 0.51% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Altria. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. As a result, upbeat changes in estimates indicate analysts' favorable outlook on the company's business health and profitability.

Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

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 last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed a 0.3% increase. As of now, Altria holds a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

In terms of valuation, Altria is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 9.51. This denotes no noticeable deviation relative to the industry's average Forward P/E of 9.51.

Investors should also note that MO has a PEG ratio of 2.67 right now. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. As of the close of trade yesterday, the Tobacco industry held an average PEG ratio of 2.34.

The Tobacco industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 172, which puts it in the bottom 32% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. 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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