Golf Clap for Altria Group

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

Altria Group (NYS: MO) reported earnings on April 26. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended March 31 (Q1), Altria Group met expectations on revenues and met expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue improved slightly and GAAP earnings per share improved.


Margins increased across the board.

Revenue details
Altria Group recorded revenue of $3.99 billion. The eight analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ hoped for a top line of $4.01 billion on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 1.3% higher than the prior-year quarter's $3.94 billion.

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Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
EPS came in at $0.49. The 13 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ averaged $0.49 per share. GAAP EPS of $0.48 for Q1 were 6.7% higher than the prior-year quarter's $0.45 per share.

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Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
For the quarter, gross margin was 55.3%, 80 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 41.2%, 210 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 24.4%, 60 basis points better than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $4.49 billion. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.57.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $17.31 billion. The average EPS estimate is $2.20.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a five-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 8,611 members out of 8,929 rating the stock outperform, and 318 members rating it underperform. Among 2,148 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 2,114 give Altria Group a green thumbs-up, and 34 give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Altria Group is outperform, with an average price target of $30.50.

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At the time thisarticle was published Seth Jayson had no position in any company mentioned here at the time of publication. You can view his stock holdings here. He is co-advisor ofMotley Fool Hidden Gems, which provides new small-cap ideas every month, backed by a real-money portfolio. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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