Looking Through The Smoke To Altria’s Future

On Oct. 31, Altria (NYSE: MO) reported third-quarter results. Highlights include lowered long-term earnings per share guidance and an impairment charge on its JUUL Labs investment.

But don't be distracted by those headlines. Ample conservatism has been baked into Altria's forward guidance. And the news flow for the tobacco stock, which has been negative since summer, should improve from here.

During the third-quarter, revenues grew 0.3% and earnings advanced 10.2%, both in-line with estimates. Revenue growth continued to be positive as price increases more than offset volume declines. Industry volumes for traditional cigarettes fell 5.5% due to the secular decline in the category and smokers continuing to switch to e-vapor products, with each trend accounting for about half of the drop.

Source Fool.com