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

In the latest trading session, Altria (MO) closed at $57.30, marking a +0.97% move from the previous day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.37%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.25%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.34%.

Heading into today, shares of the owner of Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette maker had gained 15.49% over the past month, outpacing the Consumer Staples sector's gain of 1.75% and the S&P 500's gain of 1.83% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from MO as it approaches its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.92, down 3.16% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $4.56 billion, down 2.26% from the year-ago period.

MO's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $4.19 per share and revenue of $19.74 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +5.01% and +0.6%, respectively.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for MO should also be noted by investors. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

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.

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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.3% higher within the past month. 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 13.54. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 13.48.

We can also see that MO currently has a PEG ratio of 1.7. 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. MO's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.8 as of yesterday's close.

The Tobacco industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 100, putting it in the top 40% 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.

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

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