Altria Group (MO) Competitors

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) and Altria Group (NYSE:MO) are both large-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, media sentiment, community ranking and analyst recommendations.

Is PM or MO a better dividend stock?

Philip Morris International pays an annual dividend of $5.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Altria Group pays an annual dividend of $4.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.3%. Philip Morris International pays out 85.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Altria Group pays out 68.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Philip Morris International has increased its dividend for 17 consecutive years and Altria Group has increased its dividend for 56 consecutive years. Altria Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Is PM or MO more profitable?

Altria Group has a net margin of 42.82% compared to Philip Morris International's net margin of 10.35%. Philip Morris International's return on equity of -117.94% beat Altria Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Philip Morris International	10.35%	-117.94%	15.08%
Altria Group	42.82%	-233.80%	24.32%

Do analysts rate PM or MO?

Philip Morris International presently has a consensus price target of $131.50, indicating a potential upside of 0.85%. Altria Group has a consensus price target of $51.33, indicating a potential downside of 8.29%. Given Philip Morris International's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Philip Morris International is more favorable than Altria Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Philip Morris International	1 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.60
Altria Group	2 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of PM or MO?

78.6% of Philip Morris International shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 57.4% of Altria Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of Philip Morris International shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Altria Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has higher valuation and earnings, PM or MO?

Altria Group has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Philip Morris International. Altria Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Philip Morris International, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Philip Morris International	$84.58B	2.40	$7.81B	$6.30	20.70
Altria Group	$20.36B	4.66	$8.13B	$5.92	9.46

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer PM or MO?

Altria Group received 50 more outperform votes than Philip Morris International when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 68.80% of users gave Altria Group an outperform vote while only 57.71% of users gave Philip Morris International an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Philip Morris International	Outperform Votes 801 57.71%	Underperform Votes 587 42.29%
Altria Group	Outperform Votes 851 68.80%	Underperform Votes 386 31.20%

Which has more volatility and risk, PM or MO?

Philip Morris International has a beta of 0.54, indicating that its stock price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Altria Group has a beta of 0.64, indicating that its stock price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer PM or MO?

In the previous week, Philip Morris International had 4 more articles in the media than Altria Group. MarketBeat recorded 37 mentions for Philip Morris International and 33 mentions for Altria Group. Philip Morris International's average media sentiment score of 1.40 beat Altria Group's score of 1.09 indicating that Philip Morris International is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Philip Morris International	35 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Altria Group	23 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Philip Morris International beats Altria Group on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.