Stock Update (NYSE:RAI): U.S. top court weighs racketeering law’s scope in R.J. Reynolds case

[Reuters] – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday wrestled with whether a lawsuit filed by European Union countries accusing cigarette maker R.J. Reynolds of running a global money-laundering scheme involving narcotics smuggling into Europe can move forward. The justices must decide to what extent, if any, the law can be applied to conduct overseas. The EU countries accused R.J. Reynolds in 2002 of directing a decade-long scheme from the United States that involved the smuggling of illegal narcotics into Europe by Colombian and Russian crime groups, the laundering of proceeds from the sale of these drugs, and the use of the proceeds by importers to buy R.J. Reynolds cigarettes. Read more on this. Reynolds American Inc. (RAI) , with a current value of $72.42B, began trading this morning at $50.48. Looking at the stock, its one day range is $50.07 to $51.07 with a trailing 52-week range being $33.71 to $52.54. RAI shares are currently priced at 21.66x this year’s forecasted earnings, which makes them relatively expensive compared to the industry’s 18.61x earnings multiple. And for passive income investors, the company pays shareholders $1.68 per share annually in dividends, yielding 3.31%. Consensus earnings for the current quarter by the 8 sell-side analysts covering the stock is an estimate of $0.50 per share, which would be $0.07 better than the year-ago quarter and a $0.00 sequential decrease. What we find to be interesting is that the full-year EPS estimate of $2.34 is a $0.36 improvement when compared to the previous year’s annual results. The quarterly earnings estimate is predicated on a consensus revenue forecast of $2.91 Billion. If reported, that would be a 41.26% increase over the year-ago quarter. Recently, RBC Capital Mkts downgraded RAI from Top Pick to Outperform (Nov 3, 2015). Previously, Credit Agricole downgraded RAI from Outperform to Underperform. The average price target for RAI shares by the analysts covering the stock is $54.63, which is 8.22% above where the stock opened this morning. See more in (NYSE:RAI) Similar Articles: Stock Update (NYSE:RAI): Advisory: Reynolds American Inc. announces expiration of registered Exchange Offers Market Update: Reynolds American Inc (NYSE:RAI) – U.S. top court to decide if EU countries can sue R.J. Reynolds over money-laundering Company Update: Reynolds American Inc (NYSE:RAI) – Advisory: Reynolds American companies to consolidate manufacturing operations for VUSE