Altria beats by $0.01, misses on revs; guides FY17 EPS below consensus
- Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $0.68 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.67; revenues rose 0.1% year/year to $4.73 bln vs the $4.8 bln Capital IQ Consensus. Adj. EPS grew 1.5% to $0.68, primarily driven by a lower effective tax rate on operations, higher adjusted OCI in the smokeable and smokeless products segments and fewer shares outstanding, partially offset by the ABI Timing Lag. Altria's lower fourth-quarter effective tax rate on operations was driven by tax benefits associated with a dividend from AB InBev that was larger than the dividend received from SABMiller in the fourth quarter of 2015.
- Co issues downside guidance for FY17, sees EPS +7.5-9.5% to $3.26-3.32, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $3.34 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.