Reynolds American Misses Profit And Sales Expectations As Cigarette Volume Underperforms

Reynolds American Inc. reported Wednesday first-quarter net earnings that fell to $780 million, or 55 cents a share, from $3.57 billion, or $2.49 a share, a year ago, which included a significant gain from the sale of Natural American Spirit's non-U.S. business. Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted earnings per share came in at 56 cents, missing the FactSet consensus of 57 cents. Revenue increased 1.1% to $2.95 billion from $2.92 billion, below the FactSet consensus of $3.03 billion, as a 4.4% decline in domestic cigarette volume underperformed the industry volume decline of 3.1%. Cigarette retail market share increased to 32.2% from 32.1%, as an increase in Newport share and in line share at Camel helped offset a share decline in Pall Mall. The stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, has run up 16% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 6.8%.