Shares of Philip Morris International Inc. PM dropped 1% to pullback from a two-month high in premarket trading Thursday, after the cigarette seller topped first-quarter profit expectations but missed on revenue, while providing an upbeat full-year outlook. Operating income fell 17.2% from a year ago to $2.73 billion and net earnings per share declined 14.7% to $1.28, while adjusted EPS, which excluded nonrecurring items, slipped 4.4% to $1.38 but beat the FactSet consensus of $1.34. Revenue grew 3.5% to $8.02 billion, to reflect “accelerated combustible tobacco pricing and robust underlying heated tobacco unit shipment volume growth,” but was below the FactSet consensus of $8.11 billion. Cigarette shipments fell 3.1% to 143.71 billion units while heated tobacco rose 10.4% to 27.40 billion units. For 2023, the company expects adjusted EPS of $6.40 to $6.52, above the current FactSet consensus of $6.33. The stock has edged up 0.3% year to date through Wednesday, while the S&P 500 SPX has gained 8.2%.
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