On July 30, Altria fell 4.43% in pre-market trading, trading at approximately $72.05/share, with turnover of $636,800.
The decline was triggered by the company's Q2 earnings report, in which adjusted EPS of $1.48 missed the analyst consensus estimate of $1.50 by 1.33%. Revenue of $6.111 billion, however, beat the $5.346 billion estimate. On a year-over-year basis, Q2 EPS grew 2.78% from $1.44 per share in the same period last year. For full-year guidance, the company expects adjusted EPS in the range of $5.61 to $5.72, compared with FactSet consensus of $5.69, placing the midpoint roughly in line with expectations. Management noted that the guidance range continues to reflect expectations for greater earnings contribution from tobacco import and export activities in the second half. Despite top-line strength and maintained full-year guidance, the bottom-line miss exerted short-term pressure on the stock price.
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