Philip Morris Q1 Beats Market; Lifts FY25 Earnings View; Stock Up In Pre-market - Update

(RTTNews) - Tobacco company Philip Morris International Inc. (PM), while reporting higher first-quarter results above market estimates, on Wednesday raised its forecast for fiscal 2025 earnings.

In the pre-market activity on the NYSE, Philip Morris shares were gaining around 4.6 percent to trade at $28.19.

For the second quarter, the company projects adjusted earnings per share of $1.80 to $1.85, including an estimated favorable currency impact of 6 cents at prevailing exchange rates.

The Wall Street analysts on average expect the company to report earnings of $1.80 per share. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

For fiscal 2025, the company now projects earnings per share to be in a range of $7.01 to $7.14, at prevailing exchange rates, compared to $4.52 in 2024. The company previously expected earnings in the range of $6.55 to $6.68 per share.

Further, Philip Morris now expects adjusted earnings of $7.36 to $7.49 per share, higher than previous estimate of $7.04 to $7.17 per share. Last year's adjusted earnings were $6.57 per share.

Excluding a favorable currency impact of $0.10, adjusted earnings per share would be $7.26 to $7.39 per share.

The Street is looking for earnings of $7.24 per share for the year.

The revised forecast represents a projected increase of 12.0% to 14.0% from last year on an adjusted basis, and a projected increase of 10.5% to 12.5% on currency adjusted basis.

Jacek Olczak, Chief Executive Officer, said, "We achieved exceptionally strong performance in the first quarter, with continued volume growth supporting an excellent top-line performance and very strong margin expansion.... We remain confident in our ability to deliver superior results, despite an uncertain and volatile global economic environment, and now forecast double-digit adjusted diluted EPS growth in dollar terms for the full-year."

In the first quarter, Philip Morris' bottom line came in at $2.690 billion, or $1.72 per share. This compares with $2.148 billion, or $1.38 per share, last year.

Adjusted earnings were $1.69 per share for the period. Analysts expected the company to earn $1.61 per share.

The company's revenue for the period rose 5.8% to $9.301 billion from $8.793 billion last year. The Street expected $9.14 billion.

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