By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – Philip Morris (NYSE:PM) stock was trading 1% higher in Tuesday’s premarket after the company gave a brighter outlook for the ongoing financial year and said it expected annual revenue to rise 6%-7%.
It had previously forecast 5%-7% growth.
The maker of Rothmans cigarettes expects its annual adjusted diluted earnings per share to come between $5.79 and $5.89, higher by 12%-14% and more than the $5.75-$5.85 estimate it gave in April.
The company added that the semiconductor shortage will not hurt supply of its vaping devices.
Philip Morris expects most of its markets to come out of pandemic-related restrictions in the second half of the year and assumes that even if lockdowns were to be extended, consumption wouldn’t compress to levels seen last year.
Cigarette and heated tobacco unit shipment volumes are seen flat to 2% higher. This is an improvement from previous projections which even indicated a fall in volumes.
The company’s net revenue rose 14% to $7.59 billion in the second quarter but fell short of analysts’ estimate of $7.66 billion.
Adjusted diluted EPS rose almost 22% to $1.57 and beat analysts’ estimate of $1.54.
The company took a pre-tax charge of $246 million in the second quarter owing to a customs dispute in Saudi Arabia.
The company, which has been turning more to non-tobacco products, said cigarette shipments rose 3.2% and those of heated tobacco units jumped 30%.
The company said its all-cash acquisition of Fertin Pharma, a manufacturer of innovative pharmaceutical and well-being products, will close in the fourth quarter of 2021.