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

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Philip Morris (PM - Free Report) closed at $100.86 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.34% move from the prior day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 1.45%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 1.05%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 5.88%.

Heading into today, shares of the seller of Marlboro and other cigarette brands had gained 2.46% over the past month, outpacing the Consumer Staples sector's gain of 1.66% and the S&P 500's loss of 1.68% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Philip Morris as it approaches its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.30, down 3.7% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $7.45 billion, down 8.06% from the year-ago period.

PM's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $5.80 per share and revenue of $30.6 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -4.61% and -2.56%, respectively.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Philip Morris. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. Philip Morris is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Digging into valuation, Philip Morris currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 17.34. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 9.39, 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 3.47. 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. The Tobacco industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.92 as of yesterday's close.

The Tobacco industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 41, which puts it in the top 17% 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.

Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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