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Altria (MO) Stock Moves -0.26%: What You Should Know

In the latest trading session, Altria (MO) closed at $41.83, marking a -0.26% move from the previous day. This move was narrower than the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.3%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.57%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.09%.

Heading into today, shares of the owner of Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette maker had gained 0.53% over the past month, outpacing the Consumer Staples sector's loss of 1.84% and lagging the S&P 500's gain of 4.43% in that time.

MO will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be January 28, 2021. On that day, MO is projected to report earnings of $1.01 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 0.98%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $4.91 billion, up 2.2% from the prior-year quarter.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for MO. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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 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 has moved 0.3% higher. MO currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that MO has a Forward P/E ratio of 9.16 right now. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 11.33.

We can also see that MO currently has a PEG ratio of 2.29. 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. The Tobacco was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.25 at yesterday's closing price.

The Tobacco industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 131, which puts it in the bottom 49% 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.

Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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