Altria Group Increases Sales but Misses Revenue Estimate

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

Altria Group (NYS: MO) reported earnings on April 25. Here are the numbers you need to know.

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

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue contracted slightly. Non-GAAP earnings per share increased. GAAP earnings per share grew significantly.


Margins contracted across the board.

Revenue details
 Altria Group booked revenue of $3.97 billion. The seven analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ expected a top line of $4.03 billion on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 38% higher than the prior-year quarter's $3.99 billion.

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 $0.54. The 13 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ predicted $0.53 per share. Non-GAAP EPS of $0.54 for Q1 were 10% higher than the prior-year quarter's $0.49 per share. GAAP EPS of $0.69 for Q1 were 17% higher than the prior-year quarter's $0.59 per share.

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 48.4%, 690 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 38.9%, 210 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 25.1%, 480 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. (Margins calculated in GAAP terms.)

Looking ahead
 Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $4.62 billion. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.63.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $17.58 billion. The average EPS estimate is $2.39.

Investor sentiment
 The stock has a five-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 8,651 members out of 8,976 rating the stock outperform, and 325 members rating it underperform. Among 2,240 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 2,202 give Altria Group a green thumbs-up, and 38 give it a red thumbs-down.

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The article Altria Group Increases Sales but Misses Revenue Estimate originally appeared on Fool.com.

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. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. 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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