Shares of tobacco giant Philip Morris International (PM) rose 3% on February 2, after the company posted a mixed earnings report.
Earnings-per-share missed expectations, but sales surpassed analyst estimates, for the fourth quarter.
Investors were relieved to see growth over the past year, as PM has been dragged down by the strong U.S. dollar and falling smoking rates in certain geographic markets.
Fortunately, the company is enjoying robust growth in new products. This could help secure PM’s dividend going forward.
PM is a hefty dividend payer—the stock has a current yield of 4.3%. Since its spin-off from Altria Group (MO) in 2008, PM has increased its dividend by 126%.
If the company can continue to raise its dividend, PM will soon become a Dividend Achiever, a group of 272 stocks with 10+ years of consecutive dividend increases.
While foreign exchange continues to dent PM’s overall results, the operating performance remains solid. This article will discuss PM’s recent results, and its future growth catalysts.
Results Overview
PM reported fourth-quarter earnings-per-share of $1.11 and revenue of $7 billion. Earnings-per-share fell short by a penny, but revenue came in well ahead of projections.
PM beat revenue expectations by roughly $400 million for the fourth quarter.
The revenue beat was a welcome sight for investors. In 2015, PM’s revenue fell 10% for the year.
This time around, while the strong U.S. dollar still wiped off $1.3 billion of revenue for the year, PM’s core operations performed much better.
Net revenue fell just 0.4% for the year. Revenue, excluding excise taxes, increased 4.4%. Adjusted earnings-per-share increased last year, which was the first annual increase since 2013.
Source: Fourth Quarter Earnings Presentation, page 8
And, revenue growth accelerated as the year drew to a close. Organic revenue, which excludes excise taxes, increased 9.1% in the fourth quarter.
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