Tobacco giant Philip Morris (PM) has performed well in 2025, bucking a stock market slump with strong demand for its products. This could make it a powerful addition to investors’ portfolios as they prepare for a potential recession in 2025.
Looking at Philip Morris’ Q1 2025 earnings report from April, it soundly beat Wall Street’s earnings per share and revenue estimates. That’s despite inflation limiting discretionary spending as consumers cut back on non-essential purchases during economic uncertainty. This isn’t too surprising from Philip Morris, as it often outperforms Wall Street’s estimates. It has beaten EPS expectations in seven of its last eight quarters and surpassed revenue estimates in six of them.
Philip Morris’ resilience in the face of economic turmoil can be seen in its stock price. Shares of PM stock have gained 42.77% year-to-date, easily outpacing each of the major stock indices. It helps that PM is a Consumer Defensive stock, which is a sector that typically performs well even under economic pressure. This puts it in the same category as Walmart (WMT), Costco (COST), and Coca-Cola (KO), all of which have rallied in 2025.
Updated Analyst Coverage of PM Stock
Four-star Barclays analyst Gaurav Jain agrees that Philip Morris still has room to grow despite recession concerns. The analysts reiterated a Buy rating for PM stock today and increased his price target from $175 to $205, representing a potential 20.39% upside. This has Jain offering the most bullish coverage of PM stock among his peers.
Is PM Stock a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
Turning to Wall Street, the analysts’ consensus rating for Philip Morris is Strong Buy, based on eight Buy and one Hold ratings over the last three months. With that comes an average price target of $184.38, representing a potential 8.29% upside for PM stock.
