Philip Morris International Inc.’s stock was down 3.8% in premarket trading on Thursday after the cigarette maker missed Wall Street’s fourth-quarter earnings estimate and said its 2024 earnings would fall short.
Philip Morris International PM, -0.24% said its iQOS electronic cigarettes surpassed its Marlboro cigarettes in terms of net revenue, as cigarette shipment volume dropped by 1.9%.
Philip Morris International said fourth-quarter net income fell to $ 2.19 billion, or $ 1.41 a share in the fourth quarter, from $ 2.38 billion, or $ 1.54 a share, in the year-ago quarter.
Read more: Camel, Newport among brands seeing write-down of $ 34 billion by owner British American Tobacco
Adjusted profit of $ 1.36 a share fell short of the FactSet consensus estimate of $ 1.45 a share.
Revenue increased by 11% to $ 9.05 billion, in line with the analysts’ estimate.
Looking ahead, Philip Morris expects 2024 earnings of $ 5.90 a share to $ 6.02 a share, below the analyst estimate of $ 6.60 a share.
Total iOS users stood at 28.6 million at year-end, up by 3.7 million from the end of 2022. Out of the total number, 20.8 million had switched to vaping e-cigarettes.
Total cigarette volume fell 0.5%, including a 0.8% drop in Marlboro units to 60.2 million units.
Philip Morris International said its market share for heated-tobacco units (HTUs) rose by 1.2% to 9.1%.
Prior to Thursday’s trades, Philip Morris International’s stock was down by 2.8% so far in 2024, while the S&P 500 is up by 4.7%.