Philip Morris's Stock Rallies After Profit, Sales Beat Expectations

Philip Morris International Inc.'s stock climbed 2% in light premarket trade Thursday, after the cigarette and tobacco company reported better-than-expected third-quarter profit and sales. Earnings for the quarter ended Sept. 30 fell to $1.94 billion, or $1.25 a share, from $2.16 billion, or $1.38 a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted earnings per share came to $1.24, above the FactSet consensus of $1.12. Revenue declined 12% to $6.93 billion, but beat the FactSet consensus of $6.78 billion, as better-than-expected sales from Latin America, Canada and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa regions offset misses from the European Union and Asia. Cigarette shipment volume slipped 1.5% to 218.9 billion units. The company expects full-year 2015 adjusted EPS to rise 11% to 12% from last year. The stock has gained 3.7% year to date through Wednesday, while the S&P 500 has lost 3.1%.