Altria (MO) closed the most recent trading day at $57.95, moving -0.67% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.08% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.92%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 1.41%.

Shares of the owner of Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette maker witnessed a gain of 10.6% over the previous month, beating the performance of the Consumer Staples sector with its gain of 3.42% and the S&P 500's loss of 8.26%.

The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Altria in its upcoming release. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $1.19, reflecting a 3.48% increase from the same quarter last year. At the same time, our most recent consensus estimate is projecting a revenue of $4.66 billion, reflecting a 1.11% fall from the equivalent quarter last year.

For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $5.32 per share and a revenue of $20.48 billion, representing changes of +3.91% and +0.18%, respectively, from the prior year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Altria. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. 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, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, there's been no change in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. At present, Altria boasts a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Looking at valuation, Altria is presently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 10.97. This valuation marks no noticeable deviation compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 10.97.

We can additionally observe that MO currently boasts a PEG ratio of 3.1. 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 industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.86 as trading concluded yesterday.

The Tobacco industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 84, positioning it in the top 34% of all 250+ industries.

The strength of our individual industry groups is measured by the Zacks Industry Rank, which is calculated based on the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within these 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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Altria Group, Inc. (MO) : Free Stock Analysis Report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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