Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM) early Thursday posted weaker than expected first quarter earnings results, but its full-year forecast largely matched Wall Street’s outlook.
Written by StockNews.com
The New York City-based tobacco giant reported:
Looking ahead, Philip Morris International forecast:
André Calantzopoulos, Chief Executive Officer, commented via press release:
“Our results were in line with our previously communicated expectation of a relatively weak first quarter, due to lower cigarette volume — primarily related to low-price brands in specific markets where the impact on our profitability was limited — and certain timing factors.
We are fully on track to deliver our full-year EPS guidance, driven by robust pricing and accelerating IQOS volume growth. We anticipate a combined cigarette and heated tobacco unit volume decline of 3% to 4% for the full year.
It is extremely encouraging that already today, despite persistent capacity constraints, 1.8 million consumers have effectively stopped smoking and have switched to our heat-not-burn alternative, IQOS.”
Philip Morris International Inc. shares fell $1.93 (-1.69%) to $111.98 in premarket trading Thursday. Year-to-date, PM had gained 25.65% prior to today’s report, versus a 4.89% rise in the benchmark S&P 500 index during the same period.
