Altria's Adjusted Earnings Top Estimates
Altria's third-quarter earnings fell 67% but rose on an adjusted basis as the company's cigarette business delivered strong results.
Altria Group's
(MO) - Get Report
third-quarter earnings fell 67% but rose on an adjusted basis as the company's cigarette business delivered strong results.
Altria reported third-quarter earnings of $867 million, or 42 cents share, compared with earnings of $2.6 billion, or $1.24 a share, a year earlier. The year-earlier period includes earnings from discontinued operations of $1.7 billion, or 81 cents a share.
On an adjusted basis, earnings rose to 46 cents a share from 40 cents a share a year earlier and topped the estimates of analysts polled by
Thomson Reuters
by 2 cents.
Sales rose by 5% to $5.2 billion.
Altria reaffirmed its 2008 guidance for earnings from continuing operations at $1.63 to $1.67 a share.
