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Philip Morris (PM) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Philip Morris (PM - Free Report) closed at $103.90, marking a +0.63% move from the previous day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.94%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.63%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.55%.

Heading into today, shares of the seller of Marlboro and other cigarette brands had gained 7.17% over the past month, outpacing the Consumer Staples sector's loss of 1.41% and the S&P 500's loss of 4.63% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Philip Morris as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be February 10, 2022. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.30, up 3.17% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $7.73 billion, up 3.9% from the year-ago period.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Philip Morris. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 1.1% lower. Philip Morris is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Philip Morris has a Forward P/E ratio of 16.36 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 9.71, which means Philip Morris is trading at a premium to the group.

It is also worth noting that PM currently has a PEG ratio of 2.08. 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 2.08 as of yesterday's close.

The Tobacco industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 242, putting it in the bottom 6% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our 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.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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