Philip Morris (PM) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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Philip Morris (PM) closed at $94.38 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.78% move from the prior day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.87% loss on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.08%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.34%.

Coming into today, shares of the seller of Marlboro and other cigarette brands had lost 0.92% in the past month. In that same time, the Consumer Staples sector gained 0.88%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.7%.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Philip Morris as it approaches its next earnings report date. On that day, Philip Morris is projected to report earnings of $1.32 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 4.76%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $7.84 billion, up 5.26% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $6.03 per share and revenue of $31.25 billion, which would represent changes of +16.63% and +8.92%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Philip Morris. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.56% lower. Philip Morris is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, Philip Morris currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 15.37. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 10.33, so we one might conclude that Philip Morris is trading at a premium comparatively.

It is also worth noting that PM currently has a PEG ratio of 1.96. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. PM's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.96 as of yesterday's close.

The Tobacco industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 229, putting it in the bottom 10% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

To follow PM in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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