Philip Morris (NYSE:PM) stock was down on Thursday after releasing a poor guidance in its earnings report for the second quarter of 2018.
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Philip Morris’ guidance for the full year of 2018 includes earnings per share increasing between 8% and 10%. This is a drop from the company’s previous outlook for the year, which had earnings per share increasing by 8% to 11%.
Earnings per share for reported by Philip Morris for the full year of 2017 was $4.72. This would have earnings per share coming in between $5.10 and $5.20 at its current guidance. Wall Street is looking for earnings per share of $5.15 for the quarter.
Philip Morris also notes that it is now expecting currency-neutral net revenue growth for the full year of 2018 to range from 3% to 4%. This is a pullback from the company’s previous currency-neutral net revenue growth estimate, which was sitting at 8%.
According to Philip Morris, there are a couple of reasons for the lowering of its 2018 guidance. It notes that these reasons have to do with performance in Japan. The company says that its I-Quit-Ordinary-Smoking (IQOS) and heated tobacco units are experiencing a “reduction of inventories and lower-than-anticipated consumer off-take.”
Philip Morris says that the poor performance of its IQOS devices is the cause for a 2.5-point decline to its currency-neutral net revenue growth expectations for the year. The lacking performance of the heated tobacco units represents a 2-point decline for the company’s currency-neutral net revenue growth expectations for the period.
PM stock was down 5% as of Thursday morning and is down 21% year-to-date.
As of this writing, William White did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.