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Philip Morris (PM) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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Philip Morris (PM - Free Report) closed at $93.45 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.94% move from the prior day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.51%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.44%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.19%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the seller of Marlboro and other cigarette brands had lost 9.93% over the past month. This has lagged the Consumer Staples sector's gain of 0.04% and the S&P 500's gain of 5.51% in that time.

Philip Morris will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be April 21, 2022. On that day, Philip Morris is projected to report earnings of $1.51 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 3.82%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $7.39 billion, down 2.56% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $5.98 per share and revenue of $30.86 billion. These totals would mark changes of -1.64% and -1.74%, respectively, from last year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Philip Morris. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 5.04% lower within the past month. Philip Morris is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Looking at its valuation, Philip Morris is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 15.47. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 9.78, 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 2.19. 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. Tobacco stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.19 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Tobacco industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 243, putting it in the bottom 5% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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