Altria posts 2Q profit of $1.45 billion, result tops expectations

Altria Group (MO) on Wednesday reported second-quarter net income of $1.45 billion.

On a per-share basis, the Richmond, Virginia-based company said it had profit of 74 cents.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 72 cents per share.

The owner of Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette maker posted revenue of $4.88 billion in the period.

Altria expects full-year earnings in the range of $2.76 to $2.81 per share.

Altria shares have risen 12 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has risen almost 2 percent. The stock has risen 33 percent in the last 12 months.

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This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap ) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on MO at http://www.zacks.com/ap/MO

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Keywords: Altria, Earnings Report, Priority Earnings