ewsba.se
Written by Joe Tenebruso for The Motley Fool->
Price hikes drove Altria's profits higher in the first quarter.
The dividend dynamo offers investors a hefty yield.
Shares of Altria Group (NYSE: MO) climbed on Thursday after the tobacco titan's profits surpassed investors' expectations.
Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an "Indispensable Monopoly" providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue »
Altria's revenue net of excise taxes rose 5.3% year over year to $4.8 billion in the first quarter. The gains were driven by a 5.2% rise in the cigarette maker's smokeable products revenue net of excise taxes, to $4.1 billion.
Altria has long relied on price increases to offset declining smoking rates. It's a tried-and-true formula that's worked for many years, but it has its limits. Like all consumers, smokers have limited budgets, particularly with gasoline prices near multi-year highs.
These industry dynamics are prompting Altria to invest in oral tobacco products, such as its on! Plus nicotine pouches. On! shipment volumes jumped 17.6% in the first quarter.
"On! performed well in a highly competitive marketplace," CEO Billy Gifford said.
All told, Altria's adjusted earnings per share grew by 7.3% to $1.32. That bested Wall Street's projections, which had called for per-share profits of $1.25.
The company continues to expect full-year earnings per share to grow by 2.5% to 5.5%, to a range of $5.56 to $5.72.
Management is committed to passing much of these profits on to shareholders. Altria paid $1.8 billion in dividends to investors in the first quarter alone. Its stock currently yields a solid 5.8%.
Before you buy stock in Altria Group, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Altria Group wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $496,797!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,282,815!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 979% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 200% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.
*Stock Advisor returns as of April 30, 2026.
Joe Tenebruso has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
This data feed is not available at this time.