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why did altria stock drop today

by Katelin Hayes Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago

Altria stock dives as a 'Cold War' developing with Philip Morris prompts analyst downgrade. Shares of Altria Group Inc. took a dive Tuesday, after the cigarettes seller was downgraded at Bernstein, which citing increasing concerns over competition with its former subsidiary, Philip Morris International Inc.

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Analyst Report: Altria Group, Inc. Altria comprises Philip Morris USA, U.S. Smokeless Tobacco, John Middleton, Helix Innovations, and Philip Morris Capital, although the company plans to …

Why did Mo drop?

Altria (NYSE: MO) saw its stock price plummet by almost 40% over the last 3 years, from $74 in February 2017 to about $45 in February 2020. This drop was primarily driven by a complete washout of profitability in 2019, with the company reporting losses in 2019, led by a surge in impairment charges.Feb 24, 2020

Is Altria a buy sell or hold?

The last rating was given by Bernstein on May 10, 2022. The price target was changed from 51.57 to 6.68. Over the last 90 days, this security got 3 buy, 1 sell, and 0 hold ratings.
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Predicted Opening Price for Altria Group of Thursday, May 12, 2022.
Fair opening price May 12, 2022Current price
$51.99$51.69 (Undervalued)

Is MO a good buy now?

MO Stock Technical Analysis

MO stock has risen above a long consolidation with a 52.69 entry, MarketSmith shows. Shares are currently trading at around 55. Altria stock has an 88 Composite Rating. The stock's EPS Rating, which measures earnings growth, is 76.
Apr 29, 2022

What is the target price for Altria stock?

Stock Price Target
High$68.00
Low$53.00
Average$57.04
Current Price$51.57

Does Altria have a lot of debt?

What Is Altria Group's Debt? As you can see below, Altria Group had US$29.7b of debt, at March 2021, which is about the same as the year before. You can click the chart for greater detail. However, it does have US$5.79b in cash offsetting this, leading to net debt of about US$23.9b.Jul 19, 2021

How much debt is Altria?

$29.47 billion
According to the Altria Group's most recent financial statement as reported on February 26, 2021, total debt is at $29.47 billion, with $27.97 billion in long-term debt and $1.50 billion in current debt. Adjusting for $4.95 billion in cash-equivalents, the company has a net debt of $24.53 billion.Mar 24, 2021

What is the best tobacco stock?

Best Value Tobacco Stocks
Price ($)12-Month Trailing P/E Ratio
Imperial Brands PLC (IMBBY)20.144.9
Vector Group Ltd. (VGR)10.137.1
Japan Tobacco Inc. (JAPAY)8.538.4

What is the relationship between Philip Morris and Altria?

Altria is the parent company of Philip Morris USA (producer of Marlboro cigarettes), John Middleton, Inc., U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company, Inc., and Philip Morris Capital Corporation.

What is Zacks rating on MO?

Zacks' proprietary data indicates that Altria Group, Inc. is currently rated as a Zacks Rank 3 and we are expecting an inline return from the MO shares relative to the market in the next few months.

How High Will Mo stock go up CNN Money?

Altria Group Inc (NYSE:MO)

The 15 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for Altria Group Inc have a median target of 57.00, with a high estimate of 68.00 and a low estimate of 53.00. The median estimate represents a +10.27% increase from the last price of 51.69.

Is Juul a disrupter?

Is Altria a neutral stock?

To justify his downgrade, Spielman argued that e-cigarette maker Juul is "beginning to disrupt the U.S. cigarette industry." As such, when Altria reports earnings next week, he believes it will confirm that industry volumes declined around 6% in the first quarter -- a trend that will mean Altria's valuation remains "depressed."

What happened

More specifically, Altria was downgraded from neutral to buy by Citi analyst Adam Spielman, who also reduced his per-share price target on the stock from $84 to $70. Morgan Stanley also reduced its price target on Altria from $74 to $70, maintaining its "equal weight" rating on the stock. Shares of Altria are currently trading at just above $61.

So what

Shares of Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) were down 5.2% as of 3:00 p.m. EDT Wednesday after several analysts downgraded shares of tobacco products giant.

Now what

To justify his downgrade, Spielman argued that e-cigarette maker Juul is "beginning to disrupt the U.S. cigarette industry." As such, when Altria reports earnings next week, he believes it will confirm that industry volumes declined around 6% in the first quarter -- a trend that will mean Altria's valuation remains "depressed."

How long are futures trading delayed?

The bar isn't set particularly high, as investors expect Altria's quarterly sales will climb less than 1% from the same year-ago period, to roughly $4.62 billion. Thanks in part to tight cost controls, though, Altria's earnings per share are expected to simultaneously climb around 26%, to $0.92.

How often do exchanges report short interest?

Commodities & Futures: Futures prices are delayed at least 10 minutes as per exchange requirements. Change value during the period between open outcry settle and the commencement of the next day's trading is calculated as the difference between the last trade and the prior day's settle.

Who owns restricted shares of a company?

Percentage change in short interest from the previous report to the most recent report. Exchanges report short interest twice a month.

How to calculate restricted stock?

Number of shares that are currently held by investors, including restricted shares owned by the company's officers and insiders as well as those held by the public.

How much has Altria dropped in price?

To calculate, start with total shares outstanding and subtract the number of restricted shares. Restricted stock typically is that issued to company insiders with limits on when it may be traded. A company's dividend expressed as a percentage of its current stock price.

Why did Altria price increase?

Altria (NYSE: MO) saw its stock price plummet by almost 40% over the last 3 years, from $74 in February 2017 to about $45 in February 2020. This drop was primarily driven by a complete washout of profitability in 2019, with the company reporting losses in 2019, led by a surge in impairment charges. This was partly offset by a rise in the price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple, with the company entering into the e-cigarette market with a 35% investment in JUUL, which is set to diversify its portfolio which was earlier restricted to cigarettes and chewable tobacco. We break down the movement in Altria’s stock price into four factors: growth in revenue, drop in net income margin, reduction in share count, and expansion of P/E multiple. View our interactive dashboard analysis What Factors Drove Almost A 40% Drop In Altria’s Stock In The Last 3 Years?

How much revenue does Altria have?

However, Altria has resorted to price increases to avoid a sharp decline in revenue.

How much will the cigarette industry grow in 2020?

A] Revenue Growth. Altria has seen only a modest rise of $0.5 billion in revenues over the last three years, with net revenue growing from $19.3 billion in 2016 to $19.8 billion in 2019. However, growth is likely to accelerate to $20.2 billion in 2020, led by higher revenue from heated tobacco products, benefiting from JUUL and Cronos acquisitions, ...

How much has the EPS declined in 2019?

However, growth is likely to accelerate to $20.2 billion in 2020, led by higher revenue from heated tobacco products, benefiting from JUUL and Cronos acquisitions, partly offset by a drop in cigarette sales.

When did Altria's P/E multiple increase?

EPS has declined steadily over the years from $7.29 in 2016 to -$0.69 in 2019.

Is Forbes opinion their own?

Altria’s P/E multiple expanded from 25.5x in December 2016 to 45x in December 2019.

Summary

Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

Thesis

Altria's share price is down, but that does not mean the company is running into problems.

Altria's Price Is Down - The Only Issue It Has Experienced

Altria ( MO) has seen its share price decline over the last couple of years, but that was not based on crashing earnings or cash flows. Instead, it was purely driven by valuation. Altria's underlying performance has been solid over the last couple of years, including during the current pandemic.

Altria And The Current Crisis

I recently read an article here on Seeking Alpha that argues that Altria was collapsing. In that report, author Income Generator argues that the company's weak share price performance over the last couple of years was caused by its weak performance, the JUUL investment going south, and problems during the pandemic.

Takeaway

Some bearish investors argue that Altria was running into problems due to the current crisis (pandemic and recession), but I don't think that belief is justified when we look at a couple of relevant factors.

One Last Word

Altria's investment in JUUL seems ill-timed in retrospect, but the cash for that acquisition has been paid a long time ago, and any asset writedowns during 2020 or in the future will be a non-cash item.

Will Big Tobacco give up menthol?

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Is Altria stock going down?

Big Tobacco Won’t Give Up Menthol Cigarettes Easily. One analyst says the odds are remote that the FDA will “actually finalize” its menthol and e-cigarette restrictions. Continue reading. as part of an attempt by Scott Gottleib, commissioner at the time, to combat teen smoking.

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