MO

Altria Expects Modest Earnings Growth in 2025, Shares Yield 7.8%

by

Image Source: Altria By Brian Nelson, CFA Altria (MO) reported better than expected fourth quarter results on January 30, with both revenue and non-GAAP earnings per share exceeding the consensus forecasts. Revenue, net of excise taxes advanced 1.6%, while adjusted diluted earnings per share came in at $1.29, up more than 9% on a year-over-year basis. NJOY consumables reported shipment volume advanced 15.3% in the quarter, while NJOY devices reported shipment volume increased 22.2%. In its Smokeable Products segment, net revenues fell 0.2% due to lower shipment volume, partially offset by higher pricing, while adjusted segment operating companies income (OCI) increased 5.5%. In its Oral Tobacco Products segment, net revenue increased 2.7% driven by higher pricing, while segment adjusted OCI … Read more

Altria Reaffirms 2024 Full Year Guidance

by

Image: Altria’s shares have recovered nicely during 2024. By Brian Nelson, CFA Altria (MO) reported better-than-expected third quarter results on October 31. Revenues net of excise tax increased 1.3% as the company experienced higher net revenues in its Oral Tobacco Products segment, while adjusted diluted earnings per share advanced 7.8%, to $1.38, which was $0.03 better than the consensus forecast. Management had the following to say about the quarter: Altria delivered outstanding results in the third quarter. The smokeable products segment delivered solid operating companies income growth behind the resilience of Marlboro, and in the oral tobacco products segment, our MST brands continued to drive profitability while on! maintained momentum in the marketplace. We also continued to reward shareholders through … Read more

Paper: Value and Momentum Within Stocks, Too

by

Please select the image below to download, “Value and Momentum Within Stocks, Too:” Abstract: This paper strives to advance the field of finance in four ways: 1) it extends the theory of the “The Arithmetic of Active Management” to the investor level; 2) it addresses certain data problems of factor-based methods, namely with respect to value and book-to-market ratios, while introducing price-to-fair-value ratios in a factor-based approach; 3) it may lay the foundation for academic literature regarding the Valuentum, the value-timing, and ultra-momentum factors; and 4) it walks through the potential relative outperformance that may be harvested at the intersection of relevant, unique and compensated factors within individual stocks. To download the full report, please click here (pdf). ———- Actual results … Read more

In the News: MO, META, QCOM, PSA, ALB

by

By Brian Nelson, CFA Altria Group’s (MO) Performance to Be Weighted to the Second Half of the Year On July 31, Altria Group reported second-quarter results that came in lower than expectations. Revenue net of excise taxes declined 3% to $5.3 billion as the firm experienced lower net revenue in its smokeable product segment, which was not completely offset by higher net revenue in its oral tobacco products segment. Adjusted diluted earnings per share came in unchanged at $1.31, as lower other operating companies income was offset by a lower share count. The company narrowed its full-year 2024 earnings per share guidance to the range of $5.07-$5.15, representing an adjusted diluted earnings per share growth rate of 2.5%-4.0%. Altria Group … Read more

High Yield Dividend Income Investing Is Not as Easy as Chasing the Highest Yield

by

Dear members: — The skills to successfully invest for long-term capital gains or long-term dividend growth are much different than those required for generating high yield dividend income. Income investing is a much different proposition. However, the skills do center on a similar equity evaluation process, but one that requires an acknowledgement and heightened awareness of considerably greater downside risks. Income investing, or high yield dividend income investing, should at times be considered among the riskiest forms of investing, as many high dividend-yielding securities tend to trade closer to the characteristics of junk-rated bonds than they do most net cash rich and free cash flow generating powerhouses that we like so much in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio (1) and Dividend Growth … Read more

Altria Reaffirms Full Year 2024 Earnings Outlook

by

Image: Shares of Altria have faced pressure during the past couple years, but its dividend yield is too hard to pass up, in our view. By Brian Nelson, CFA On April 25, Altria (MO) reported mixed first-quarter results. Net revenue fell 2.5% as a result of weak performance across its smokeable products segment, which was only partially mitigated by expansion in its oral tobacco products segment. Adjusted diluted earnings per share fell 2.5%, to $1.15 per share, which was in-line with expectations. Shipment volume of NJOY consumables was 10.9 million units, while shipment volume of NJOY devices was 1.0 million units. Management had the following to say in its update in the quarterly release: We made meaningful progress in pursuit … Read more

Altria Selling Portion of ABI Stake, Raises 2024 Guidance

by

Image: Altria’s shares reacted positively to news that it would sell a portion of its stake in Anheuser-Busch Inbev. By Brian Nelson, CFA On March 14, Altria Group (MO) announced that it would be selling in a secondary offering 35 million of its ~197 million shares of Anheuser-Busch Inbev (BUD) it owns to unlock value for shareholders. The cigarette maker noted that it would use the proceeds of the sale for accelerated share buybacks to the tune of a $2.4 billion increase to its existing $1 billion repurchase program, a move that we like quite a bit as it helps to reduce total dividend obligations paid to shareholders given Altria’s outsized dividend yield. The cigarette maker also raised its earnings … Read more

We Remain Bullish; Is This 1995 – The Beginning of a Huge Stock Market Run?

by

Image: Large cap growth stocks have trounced the performance of the S&P 500, REITs, and bonds since the beginning of 2023. We expect continued outperformance in this area of the market. By Brian Nelson, CFA We’re now roughly four years past the depths of the COVID-19 meltdown, where equities collapsed in February and March of 2020. As the markets began to recover through 2020, our long-term conviction in equities only grew stronger. We think the biggest risk for long-term investors remains staying out of the market on the basis of what could be considered stretched valuation multiples. As we outlined heavily in the book Value Trap, valuation multiples hardly tell the complete story about a company and often omit key … Read more

Earnings Roundup: MO, EPD, SBUX, CLX, HON

by

By Brian Nelson, CFA Altria’s (MO) Dividend Growth Outlook Through 2028 Looks Solid On February 1, Altria Group, which is yielding ~9.5% at the time of this writing, reported mixed fourth-quarter results that showed revenue missing on the top line, but the company’s non-GAAP earnings per share coming in-line with the consensus forecast. For the fourth quarter, net revenue dropped 2.2% as a result of lower sales in its smokeable products portfolio, which was only partially offset by strength in its oral tobacco segment. Adjusted diluted earnings per share was roughly flat thanks in part to both a lower share count and lower tax rate, both of which helped offset modest weakness in its operating companies income (OCI). Altria’s fourth-quarter … Read more

Stock Reports on 25 Dividend Kings to Pad Your Dividend Growth Portfolio

by

Image Source: Jason Train By Valuentum Analysts Investors love dividends! After all, research has shown that companies that have paid an ever-increasing dividend for a long time do quite well in the stock market. In this note, you can download the stock reports of 25 Dividend Kings, or stocks that have raised their dividends in each of the past 50 years! Please select the company’s name/symbol below to download the 16-page report. Don’t forget that we also have Dividend Reports for these companies, too!  —– Genuine Parts (GPC) — 67 Years   Parker-Hannifin (PH) — 67 Years   Procter & Gamble (PG) — 67 Years   Emerson Electric (EMR) — 66 Years   3M (MMM) — 65 Years   Coca-Cola … Read more