Here is a look at four companies set to report results first thing Thursday morning.
Altria
The maker and U.S. distributor of Marlboro cigarettes, Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO), has suffered an uncharacteristic share price decline of more than 5% over the past 12 months. The company said in July that its investment in e-cigarette maker Juul had vaporized 95% of a $13 billion investment. On Monday, the company ended its U.S. commercialization agreement with Philip Morris. The international maker and distributor of Marlboro cigarettes will pay Altria $3.7 billion for the right to commercialize the IQOS heat-not-burn device in the United States.
Sentiment on the company is positive but not strong. Of 18 analysts covering the shares, 11 have a Hold rating, while another six rate the shares at Buy or Strong Buy. At a recent price of around $45.40 a share, the implied gain based on a median price target of $50.50 is 10.1%. At the high price target of $68.00, the upside potential is about 50%.
Third-quarter revenue is forecast at $5.59 billion, which would be up 3.9% sequentially and by 1.0% year over year. Adjusted EPS are forecast to come in at $1.30, down 0.2% sequentially but up 6.6% year over year. For the full 2022 fiscal year, Altria is expected to report EPS of $4.84, up about 5%, on sales of $20.9 billion, down about 1%.
Altria stock trades at about 9.4 times expected 2022 EPS, 9.1 times estimated 2023 earnings of $5.03 and 8.7 times estimated 2024 earnings of $5.26 per share. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $40.35to $57.05, and Altria pays an annual dividend of $3.76 (yield of 8.28%). Total shareholder return over the past year is 2.86%.
Cameco
Over the past year, uranium producer Cameco Corp. (NYSE: CCJ) has seen its share price slide by more than 9%. At its peak in mid-April, the stock was trading at a level it had not seen in nearly 11 years.
Since the April peak, uranium prices have dropped by about $11 a pound (more than 17%) and Cameco stock has dropped by about 24%, including last week’s drop of nearly 20% after announcing the acquisition of a nuclear power plant servicing business for about $7.9 billion and issue $650 million in new stock to help pay for the deal. The stock has recovered about half the loss over the past 10 days.
Analysts are solidly bullish on Cameco stock. All 10 brokerages covering the company have a Buy or Strong Buy rating. At a price of around $24.05 a share, the upside potential based on a median price target of $30.93 is 28.6%. At the high price target of $34.93, the upside potential is 45.2%.
Third-quarter revenue is forecast at $259.89 million, down 40.0% sequentially and by 8.9% year over year. Analysts expect Cameco to break even for the quarter, down 90.0% sequentially and better than the year-ago loss of $0.11 per share. For the full fiscal 2022 year, EPS are forecast at $0.25, better than the $0.20 per share loss last year, on sales of $1.37 billion, up 17.2%.
Cameco stock trades at 96.6 times expected 2022 earnings, 34.8 times estimated 2023 earnings of $0.69 per share and 39 times estimated 2024 earnings of $0.62 per share. The stock’s 52-week range is $18.03 to $32.49. Cameco pays an annual dividend of $0.09 (yield of 0.4%). Total shareholder return for the past year was negative 9.2%.
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