Altria Nudges Guidance Higher as Revenue Rises

By Angela Chen 

Altria Group Inc. nudged its earnings guidance higher on Wednesday, as improved cigarette shipment volumes led to better-than-expected revenue in the June quarter.

Shares of Altria are up about 12% this year through Tuesday's close. They were up 1.4% in light premarket trading.

"Our tobacco companies' brands continued to strengthen their market leadership, with record retail share on Marlboro and more than 51% combined share on Copenhagen and Skoal year-to-date," Chief Executive Marty Barrington said.

For the year, the largest U.S. tobacco company raised its earnings guidance range by 1 cent, now expecting per-share earnings of $2.76 to $2.81.

It expects earnings growth to "moderate" in the second half of the year due to lower gasoline prices, expected trade inventory movements and the effect of state excise tax increases.

The company said its cigarette shipments grew 3.1% from the year-earlier quarter. Altria's cigarettes had market share of 51.4%, up from 50.9%.

At the same time, alternative products like e-cigarettes have been less of a drag than some industry observers predicted. Revenue for smokeless products was $481 million, up from $464 million a year earlier. Volume grew 2.6%.

Earnings rose to $1.45 billion from $1.26 billion in the year-earlier quarter. Per-share earnings grew to 74 cents from 64 cents.

Overall, revenue at Altria, which also sells wine, grew to $6.61 billion from $6.26 billion a year earlier. Excluding excise taxes, revenue increased to $4.9 billion.

Analysts had expected per-share earnings of 71 cents on revenue excluding excise taxes of $4.75 billion.

Write to Angela Chen at [e-mail]

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