Philip Morris International Inc.’s stock was down 3.8% in premarket trading on Thursday after the cigarette maker missed Wall Street’s fourth-quarter earnings estimate and said its 2024 earnings would fall short.
Philip Morris International
PM,
said its iQOS electronic cigarettes surpassed its Marlboro cigarettes in terms of net revenue, as cigarette shipment volume dropped by 1.9%.
Philip Morris International said fourth-quarter net income fell to $2.19 billion, or $1.41 a share in the fourth quarter, from $2.38 billion, or $1.54 a share, in the year-ago quarter.
Read more: Camel, Newport among brands seeing write-down of $34 billion by owner British American Tobacco
Adjusted profit of $1.36 a share fell short of the FactSet consensus estimate of $1.45 a share.
Revenue increased by 11% to $9.05 billion, in line with the analysts’ estimate.
Looking ahead, Philip Morris expects 2024 earnings of $5.90 a share to $6.02 a share, below the analyst estimate of $6.60 a share.
Total iOS users stood at 28.6 million at year-end, up by 3.7 million from the end of 2022. Out of the total number, 20.8 million had switched to vaping e-cigarettes.
Total cigarette volume fell 0.5%, including a 0.8% drop in Marlboro units to 60.2 million units.
Philip Morris International said its market share for heated-tobacco units (HTUs) rose by 1.2% to 9.1%.
Prior to Thursday’s trades, Philip Morris International’s stock was down by 2.8% so far in 2024, while the S&P 500 is up by 4.7%.
