WASHINGTON (AP) — Shares of Altria dipped Thursday after the tobacco giant reported flat earnings due to declining cigarettes sales and challenging competition for newer products, including flavored nicotine pouches.
The Richmond, Virginia-based company said fourth-quarter revenue slid 2% to $5.8 billion, mainly driven by lower cigarette sales. Tobacco companies have long had to manage shrinking sales of their main product category, but Altria executives said cigarettes have been increasingly squeezed by the introduction of unauthorized disposable electronic cigarettes, which are often cheaper and come in fruit and candy flavors.
“We have long advocated for stronger enforcement against illicit products,” Altria CEO Billy Gifford said Thursday.
The company reported adjusted net income of $1.30 per share, falling short of Wall Street expectations for earnings per share of $1.32, according to analysts surveyed by Zachs Investments Research.
Company shares fell more than 2.4% in morning trading.
Altria executives updated investors on the company’s longstanding efforts to diversify its business into next-generation products, such as e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches, though the company is not a market leader in either space.
In December, the Food and Drug Administration officially authorized Altria’s pouches, on! Plus, in several flavors, including mint and wintergreen. The brand has been available for years, but FDA authorization means the products have the agency’s permission to remain on the market and expand nationally.
However, company results showed the company’s products losing ground in the latest quarter. Altria said on! pouches' share of the market shrank to about 13%, down about 5 points from the prior year.
The U.S. market for pouches is dominated by Zyn, the flavored brand from Philip Morris International, which accounts for more than two-thirds of sales for the category, according to figures from Nielsen.
Altria executives said they faced pricing competition from Philip Morris in the latest quarter, including 2-for-1 sale promotions for Zyn.
Gifford said Altria plans its own pricing strategy as it expands its FDA-authorized nicotine pouches at the regional and then national level later this year.
“Certainly as we introduce at retail we’ll have various introductory price promotions,” he told investors and analysts Thursday. “We feel very excited about the differentiation we have and the consumer feedback.”
Gifford and other executives said the company remains interested in other alternative tobacco products, including e-cigarettes.
The company faced a major setback in that space last year when international trade regulators ruled that the company’s vaping devices, sold under the brand NJOY, infringed patents held by Juul. The ruling blocks imports and sales of NJOY Ace products into the U.S.
Altria paid $2.75 billion in 2023 to acquire NJOY after selling its stake in the troubled vaping company Juul. Altria took a $1.3 billion charge on the value of its vaping business in the most recent quarter.
The maker of Marlboro cigarettes recorded adjusted revenue of$5.08 billion, topping Wall Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $5 billion.
For 2026, Altria expects full-year earnings between $5.56 and $5.72 per share.
Parts of this story were generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on MO at https://www.zacks.com/ap/MO
FILE - The Altria Group Inc. corporate headquarters are seen in Richmond, Va., April 23, 2008. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Trump administration could reduce the number of immigration enforcement officers in Minnesota, but only if state and local officials cooperate, the president's border czar said Thursday, noting he has “zero tolerance” for protesters who assault federal officers or impede the ongoing operation in the Twin Cities.
Tom Homan addressed reporters for the first time since the president sent him to Minneapolis following last weekend's fatal shooting of protester Alex Pretti, the second this month by federal officers carrying out the operation. His comments came after President Donald Trump seemed to signal a willingness to ease tensions in the Minneapolis and St. Paul area and as the administration ended its “enhanced operations” in Maine.
Homan emphasized that the administration isn't relenting on its immigration crackdown and warned that protesters could face consequences if they interfere with federal officers.
But he seemed to acknowledge there had been missteps.
“I do not want to hear that everything that’s been done here has been perfect. Nothing’s ever perfect,” he said.
Homan hinted at the prospect of drawing down many of the roughly 3,000 federal officers taking part in the operation, but he seemed to tie that to cooperation from state and local leaders and a reduction in protester interference.
“When the violence decreases, we can draw down the resources,” he said. “The drawdown is going to happen based on these agreements. But the drawdown can happen even more if the hateful rhetoric and the impediment and interference will stop.”
He also said he would oversee internal changes in federal immigration law enforcement, but he gave few specifics.
“The mission is going to improve because of the changes we’re making internally,” he said. “No agency organization is perfect. And President Trump and I, along with others in the administration, have recognized that certain improvements could and should be made.”
Despite Trump softening his rhetoric about Minnesota officials — he said this week they were on a “similar wavelength” — there has been little sign on the ground of any big changes to the operation. On Thursday, a smattering of protesters braved the frigid temperatures to demonstrate outside of the federal facility that has been serving as the operation's main hub.
Pretti, 37, was fatally shot Saturday during a scuffle with the Border Patrol. Earlier this month, 37-year-old Renee Good was shot in her vehicle by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.
On Thursday, Homan doubled down on the need for jails to alert ICE to inmates who could be deported, saying that transferring such inmates to the agency while they’re still in jail is safer because it means fewer officers have to be out on the streets looking for people who are in the country illegally. ICE has historically relied on cooperation from local and state jails to notify the agency about such inmates.
“Give us access to illegal aliens, public safety threats in the safety and security of a jail,” he said.
Homan also seemed to suggest a renewed focus on what ICE calls “targeted operations” designed to focus its efforts on apprehending immigrants who have committed crimes. He said the agency would conduct “targeted strategic enforcement operations” prioritizing “public safety threats.”
Homan's arrival in Minnesota followed the departure of the Trump administration's on-the-ground leader of the operation, Greg Bovino. Homan didn't give a specific timeline for how long he would stay in Minnesota.
“I’m staying until the problem’s gone,” he said, adding that he has met with community, law enforcement and elected leaders in the hopes of finding common ground and suggested that he’s made some progress.
Operation Metro Surge began in December with scattered arrests, as Trump repeatedly disparaged the state’s large Somali community. But the operation ramped up dramatically after a right-wing influencer’s January report on Minnesota’s sprawling human services fraud scandal, which centers around the Somali community.
Federal officials announced thousands of immigration agents were being deployed, with FBI Director Kash Patel saying they would “dismantle large-scale fraud schemes exploiting federal programs.”
But talk of the scandals was almost immediately forgotten, with federal authorities instead focusing on immigrants in the country illegally and so-called sanctuary agreements that limit cooperation between local law enforcement agencies and jails with immigration authorities.
Santana reported from Washington. Associated Press reporters Tim Sullivan in Minneapolis and Mike Catalini in Trenton, New Jersey, contributed.
White House border czar Tom Homan holds a news conference as Marcos Charles and Rodney Scott, listen, at the Bishop Whipple Federal building on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026 in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
White House border czar Tom Homan holds a news conference at the Bishop Whipple Federal building on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026 in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
White House border czar Tom Homan holds a news conference at the Bishop Whipple Federal building on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026 in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
