Tobacco company Philip Morris International (PM) is set to report its second-quarter earnings results on July 22 before the market opens. Wall Street is expecting earnings per share to come in at $1.86 on revenue of $10.32 billion. Furthermore, the firm has been receiving quite a bit of attention lately from analysts. Indeed, Jefferies, led by Andrei Andon Ionita, recently began covering the stock with a Buy rating and a $220 price target. The investment firm is optimistic about the global tobacco industry and sees it as one of the more promising areas in the consumer staples sector, along with beer and consumer health.
Elevate Your Investing Strategy:
- Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence.
As a result, Jefferies expects nicotine products—both traditional and newer alternatives—to grow at a low-single-digit pace globally. Adding to the positive momentum, Barclays’ four-star analyst, Gaurav Jain, raised his price target on Philip Morris to $225 from $220 and kept an Overweight rating. This is because the firm believes that Philip Morris is likely to raise its financial guidance when it reports second-quarter earnings. Separately, Citi also increased its price target from $188 to $200 while keeping a Buy rating on the stock.
Four-star analyst Simon Hales expects Philip Morris’ second-quarter results to come in strong due to solid demand for ZYN (its fast-growing nicotine pouch), IQOS (its heated tobacco device), and traditional cigarettes. Interestingly, Philip Morris’ heated tobacco device has been steadily growing its market share over the past several years, as pictured below. It is also worth noting that PM’s stock has rallied significantly so far in 2025, with shares rising by more than 50%. Therefore, analysts have good reasons to be optimistic about the share price.
What Do Options Traders Anticipate?
Using TipRanks’ Options tool, we can see that options traders are expecting a 4.7% move from PM stock in either direction right after its earnings report. The expected earnings move is determined by calculating the at-the-money straddle of the options closest to expiration after the earnings announcement.
It’s worth noting that PM’s after-earnings price moves in the past 12 quarters have mostly been smaller than the 4.7% that is expected. This implies that current option prices might be overvalued.
Is PM Stock a Good Buy?
Overall, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on PM stock based on 10 Buys, one Hold, and zero Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. Furthermore, the average PM price target of $197.11 per share implies 9.4% upside potential. At the same time, TipRanks’ AI analyst has an Outperform rating and a $206 per share price target.
