Shares of Philip Morris International Inc. PM, -1.75% climbed 1.5% in premarket trading Thursday, after the cigarette seller beat profit and revenue expectations by wide margins and raised its full-year outlook, citing “excellent” IQOS momentum. Net income increased to $2.23 billion from $2.17 billion from a year ago, as earnings per share edged up to $1.43 from $1.39. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted EPS fell to $1.48 from $1.58 but was well above the FactSet consensus of $1.25. Revenue grew 3.1% to $7.83 billion, beating the FactSet consensus of $6.71 billion. Total shipment volume grew 3.0%, as cigarettes rose 2.4% and heated tobacco units increased 7.4%. Total IQOS users at quarter end rose 20.5% to 19.0 million, of which 13.2 million had switched to IQOS and stopped smoking. The company raised its full-year outlook for EPS growth to 10% to 12% from 9% to 11%. The stock has lost 14.5% over the past three months through Wednesday while the S&P 500 SPX, +0.59% has declined 9.9%.
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