Shares of Philip Morris International Inc.
PM,
edged up 0.4% in premarket trading, after the cigarette seller topped second-quarter profit expectations, but provided a somewhat downbeat full-year outlook as industry volumes are expected to decline. Net earnings per share fell to $1.01 from $1.43, while EPS excluding nonrecurring items, increased to $1.60 from $1.48 to beat the FactSet consensus of $1.50. Revenue grew 14.5% to $8.97 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $8.67 billion. Cigarette sales slipped 0.4% to 157.01 billion units while heated tobacco units (HTUs) jumped 26.6% to 31.42 billion units. Smoke-free product revenue increased 34.1% to $3.2 billion. For 2023, the company expects adjusted EPS of $6.13 to $6.22, compared with the FactSet consensus of $6.24, as total industry volume for cigarettes and HTUs, excluding China, are estimated to decline 0.5% to 1.5%. The stock has slipped 2.4% year to date through Wednesday, while the S&P 500
SPX,
had rallied 18.9%.