I've been hospitalized for the past few weeks, and had a minor surgery. I suppose that at my age, it's something that was bound to happen. But I'm out and I'm as well as ever. I just hope this cold weather would get going soon. During my little "vacation" Altria has been going through pretty interesting moves, and since the split-off of Kraft, it's already gone back up over 10%. Here's what I would suggest, do not worry too much about the red "loss" you have on your portfolio, I'm more confident than ever that it will revert back to the high-70's, almost as confident that I'll be going strong for many more years to come.
If you look at the trends, Altria's shares are now trading at its all-time high - if you think about it, a 10% rise under the "pre-Kraft split" price would have put it to the high-90's. The strong pattern will push it to a continued rally well into the summer of 2007 - its in a bull flag pattern that will eventually start a measured-move rally much like we saw back in March when it was low-60's.
Altria releases their earnings tomorrow morning - the first after the split-off. They'll be one of the hot movers over the next few weeks, if not months. Get in now while it's still considered "cheap", it's a deal.