By George Glover

Marlboro maker Altria Group topped Wall Street's earnings targets and reiterated its profit growth guidance for 2025 Tuesday, but a drop in cigarette sales dragged down the tobacco company's top line.

The Philip Morris USA parent reported first-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.23 a share, as revenue net of excise taxes fell 4.2% from a year ago to $4.52 billion. Analysts were expecting earnings of $1.19 a share on revenue of $4.62 billion, according to a FactSet poll.

Altria also said it was still expecting earnings growth of between 2% and 5% this year, or $5.30 to $5.45 per share, although that reflected a decision to start excluding the amortization of intangible assets from its adjusted earnings.

The company is still feeling the impact of President Donald Trump's tariffs, though. Slumping cigarette sales could be a worry for investors.

Marlboro shipment volume dropped 13% from a year ago, and revenue for Altria's smokable products division dropped 13% to $14.6 billion. The company blamed the decline on the rise of illegal vapes and income pressure on consumers.

Revenue for Altria's oral tobacco products division rose 0.5% to $654 million, which the company said was mainly due to higher pricing.

Shares climbed 1.1% to $58.82 in early trading. The S&P 500 was flat.

Write to George Glover at george.glover@dowjones.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 29, 2025 10:17 ET (14:17 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.