Goldman Sachs is bullish on a heavyweight in the tobacco industry after a sharp sell-off. The firm reiterated a buy rating on Phillip Morris stock on Thursday, with a $120 per share price target. That equates to about 24% upside for investors compared to Thursday’s close of $96.71. Shares of Philip Morris were 0.4% higher in pre-market trading Friday, after falling nearly 5% a day earlier. The company reported mixed earnings on Thursday , beating on adjusted earnings per share but coming up short on revenue. Philip Morris reported $8 billion in revenue against a Wall Street consensus of $8.1 billion. PM YTD mountain Shares of tobacco giant Philip Morris are heading higher in pre-market trading a day after a sharp sell-off. But Goldman Sachs analyst Bonnie Herzog things the sharp decline on Thursday is an investor overreaction, and that the company could be poised for significant earnings growth in the future. “We reiterate our bullish call on PM and believe the sell-off in the stock today is overdone and presents a nice entry point,” Herzog said. “Despite a slight Q1 EPS beat, the market reacted negatively to the composition of Q1 results, a lower than expected Q2 guide and increased FX headwinds.” Herzog added that executives at the company presented muted forward guidance for future quarters, and she thinks the company’s projection of 7% to 9% growth in organic earnings per share this year is “more than doable.” “Ultimately, we believe mgmt’s Q2 guide is conservative and therefore we see a nice set up for a potential beat and raise quarter,” Herzog said. “This, in addition to PM’s Investor Day in September, should be positive catalysts for the stock.” — CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
