Altria Meets Profit Target, Halts Buyback

Altria (MO Quote) said Thursday that its fourth-quarter earnings dropped from a year ago, but its adjusted profit matched Wall Street's consensus forecast.

For the quarter, the Richmond, Va., tobacco company earned $679 million, or 33 cents a share, down from $2.19 billion, or $1.04 a share, in the year-ago period. Last year's quarter included a gain of 65 cents a share from discontinued operations.

Excluding charges and items, Altria would have earned 37 cents in the latest quarter, vs. 35 cents in the fourth quarter of 2007, meeting the estimate carried by Thomson Reuters. Revenue rose 2.8% to $4.65 billion.

Full-year earnings were flat at $1.48 a share, but on an adjusted basis rose 10% to $1.65. Net revenue increased 3.7% to $19.4 billion. For 2009, Altria expects earnings from continuing operations of $1.70 to $1.75. On average, analysts are looking for $1.75.

The recently completed acquisition of UST isn't reflected in Altria's 2008 results.

Altria also said that because of the weak economy, it's suspending its $4 billion 2008-2010 share repurchase program, $1.2 billion of which was completed last year. "During 2009, Altria intends to focus on earnings per share growth and continuing its strong dividend policy," the company said in a press release. "The company recognizes the importance of share repurchases to investors and intends to evaluate them again in early 2010."

Shares of Altria were up 1.1% at $16.98.

Elsewhere in the tobacco sector, Philip Morris International (PM Quote), which Altria spun off last year, was down 0.2% at $39.91. Reynolds American (RAI Quote) and British American Tobacco (BTI Quote) were up 0.5%. Lorillard (LO Quote) was off 0.2%.