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Philip Morris (PM) Stock Moves -1.89%: What You Should Know

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Philip Morris (PM - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $85.43, moving -1.89% from the previous trading session. This change was narrower than the S&P 500's daily loss of 3.24%. At the same time, the Dow lost 3.1%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 3.8%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the seller of Marlboro and other cigarette brands had lost 1.88% over the past month. This has lagged the Consumer Staples sector's gain of 1.01% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.73% in that time.

PM will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be February 14, 2019. In that report, analysts expect PM to post earnings of $1.18 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 9.92%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $7.33 billion, down 11.58% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $5.01 per share and revenue of $29.49 billion, which would represent changes of +1.62% and +2.57%, respectively, from the prior year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for PM should also be noted by investors. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.07% lower. PM currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Looking at its valuation, PM is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 17.38. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 13.33, which means PM is trading at a premium to the group.

Also, we should mention that PM has a PEG ratio of 2. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. PM's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.97 as of yesterday's close.

The Tobacco industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 104, putting it in the top 40% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. 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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