Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) released the earnings results from its third quarter this morning, posting adjusted earnings per share of $1.39 on $7.9 billion in revenue, a .9% decline year over year. Analysts had been expecting earnings of $1.34 per share on $7.64 billion in revenue.
Net earnings per share were $1.38 for the quarter, compared to $1.44 in the same quarter a year ago. Excluding unfavorable impacts from currency exchange rates, reported earnings rose 9.7%.
Breaking down Philip Morris’ earnings
Philip Morris reported that its cigarette shipment volume fell .4%, excluding acquisitions, to 222.3 billion. The company’s reported operating companies income fell 5.5% to $3.5 billion, while adjusted operating companies income fell 5.8% to $3.4 billion. Reported operating income declined 7.1% to $3.3 billion.
For the nine months so far this year, reported earnings per share are $3.73, while adjusted earnings are $3.99 per share. Philip Morris shipped 641.1 billion cigarette units in the first nine months of the year. Reported net revenues for the first nine months are $22.6 billion.
Philip Morris is preparing to launch a new product next month which management hopes will improve the company’s results.
“We are particularly excited by the commercialization, next month, of iQOS, our first product within our innovative portfolio of potentially Reduced-Risk Products that, we believe, represent one of our greatest growth opportunities,” said CEO André Calantzopoulos in a statement. “I am immensely proud of our talented employees whose exceptional work has opened this significant new chapter in our history.”
Philip Morris raises dividend, revises guidance
This morning the cigarette maker also announced that it is increasing its regular quarterly dividend to $4 per share, a 6.4% increase. Philip Morris also bought back 8.9 million shares for a total price of $750 million in the third quarter. So far this year, the company has bought back a total of 35.9 million shares for $3 billion.
Philip Morris also revised its full year guidance. The company now expects earnings per share to be between $4.76 and $4.81, compared to $5.26 per share last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to increase by between 6.5% and 7.5% compared to last year’s adjusted earnings of $5.40 per share.
