Altria earnings beat analyst forecasts in the third quarter, and the company raised its full-year profit outlook for the second time this year. Adjusted diluted earnings per share rose 4.8 percent to $1.52, above the consensus estimate of $1.51 and up from $1.45 in the same quarter last year.
Revenues net of excise taxes rose 3.6 percent to $5.44 billion, above the consensus estimate of $5.31 billion. Total net revenues increased 1.0 percent to $6.13 billion. Reported diluted earnings per share climbed 7.1 percent to $1.51. The company reported its results on Thursday, October 29, before the market opened.
Shares rose after the Altria earnings announcement. The stock traded as high as $79.81 during trading on Friday, a new 52-week high, after closing at $76.75 the day before. It last traded at $78.08, with about 1.17 million shares changing hands. The company has a market value of about $130.29 billion.
Altria earnings top the consensus estimate
The Altria earnings beat was narrow on earnings and wider on revenue. Adjusted earnings came in a cent above the consensus, while revenue net of excise taxes came in $130 million above the estimate. The gap between the two measures reflects excise taxes, which the company strips out of its headline revenue figure to show what it keeps from sales.
Higher pricing in the smokeable products business did much of the work. Adjusted operating companies income in that segment rose 3.9 percent to $3.07 billion, and the adjusted operating margin reached 64.5 percent. Earnings from the company’s investment in Anheuser-Busch InBev also helped Altria earnings in the quarter, according to coverage of the release.
Domestic cigarette volumes fell 2.9 percent in the quarter. That decline has been a long-running pattern for the business, as fewer people smoke. Pricing offset the volume loss in the quarter, which is how earnings rose while the number of cigarettes shipped fell. The balance between price and volume is the central question for the cigarette business each quarter.
Chief executive Sal Mancuso and chief financial officer Heather Newman discussed the results on the company’s earnings call. Newman raised the full-year guidance on the call, and Mancuso pointed to the company’s dividend record: August brought its 61st dividend increase in 57 years.
Altria earnings and the smoke-free business
The earnings call also covered the company’s smoke-free products, including the on! nicotine pouch brand. Management said its remarks on the call would focus on third-quarter performance from on! and the changing regulatory environment for nicotine products. Smoke-free products are a smaller part of sales than cigarettes, but they are where the company is trying to find growth as cigarette volumes fall.
Regulation shapes that effort. The company operates in a market where product approvals, taxes and marketing rules can change the pace at which new products reach smokers. The call did not announce a new product approval, but management tied the smoke-free discussion to the regulatory picture facing the business.
The Altria earnings results show a company still earning most of its profit from cigarettes while it builds the newer business. Smokeable products produced $3.07 billion in adjusted operating companies income in the quarter. That figure dwarfs the contribution from newer products, and it explains why pricing in cigarettes matters more to each quarter’s result than any single smoke-free launch.
Altria’s quarterly dividend was also part of the picture for shareholders. The company recently paid a quarterly dividend of $1.11 per share to shareholders of record on September 15. That represents a $4.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.7 percent at recent prices.
Altria earnings outlook and shareholder returns
Management raised its Altria earnings guidance for full-year 2026 to $5.66 to $5.74 per share, from the prior range of $5.61 to $5.72. The new range implies growth of 4.5 percent to 6.0 percent from the 2025 base of $5.42. It is the second upward revision this year, after guidance was already lifted in July.
The board also authorized a $1 billion expansion of the existing share repurchase program, which now runs through December 31, 2027. Buybacks reduce the number of shares in issue, which lifts earnings per share even when total profit is flat. The company cited strong performance through the first nine months and confidence in its full-year plan as the reason for the higher outlook.
Morgan Stanley raised its price target on the stock from $71 to $77 after the results, while keeping an “equal weight” rating.
The next test for the Altria earnings guidance comes with fourth-quarter results in early 2027. The company must deliver the final quarter implied by the $5.66 to $5.74 range, after nine months that already ran ahead of its earlier plan. The buyback authorization runs through December 31, 2027.