NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / April 20, 2018 / It was a depressing day for tobacco stocks Philip Morris and Altria on Thursday. Philip Morris delivered lackluster results for the first quarter and Altria group was downgraded by several analysts this week. Shares of Philip Morris saw their worst day since the stocks initial public offering over ten years ago.

RDI Initiates Coverage on:

Philip Morris International Inc.
https://www.rdinvesting.com/report/?ticker=PM

Altria Group, Inc.
https://www.rdinvesting.com/report/?ticker=MO

Philip Morris International Inc. shares were clobbered in Thursday trading and closed down 15.58%. Trading volume was a monster at around 45.5 million shares compared to an average of just around 5.5 million shares. The stock posted its worst day in a decade yesterday, since going public back in March of 2008. The big drop came after the company revealed that cigarette shipments had fallen more than expected and that sales for its cigarette alternative had stalled in a major market. The company posted its first quarter 2018 results and reported adjusted earnings of $1.00 a share. This was a growth of 2% YOY. Analysts had been waiting for 90 cents. Net revenues at $6,896 million was a growth of 13.7% but was behind the $7,03 million that analysts were expecting. Total cigarette and heated tobacco unit shipment volume dropped to 173.8 billion units which was a 2.3% decline. The company also said that its IQOS vape product sales were plateauing. Looking ahead the company has raised its earnings per share forecast to $5.25-$5.40 due to a lower effective tax rate.

Access RDI's Philip Morris International Inc. Research Report at:
https://www.rdinvesting.com/report/?ticker=PM

Altria Group, Inc. shares closed down about 6% on Thursday on a little over 24 million shares traded. The tobacco giant sank to a new low of $56.08 yesterday after Philip Morris, another tobacco giant, reported dismal earnings which had traders concerned over the overall tobacco industry. It also didn't help that a day before Altria had several downgrades from analysts. It was earlier this week that Citi analyst Adam Spielman reduced his price target on the stock from $84 to $70. He downgraded his rating from "buy" to "neutral." Morgan Stanley also slashed its price target from $74 to $70 and reiterated an "equal weight" rating on it. Altria is expected to report its earnings next week on April 26th. Analysts are expecting Altria to report revenue of $4.63 billion in its first quarter 2018 report. For the full year 2018, analysts are expecting revenue of $19.9 billion.

Access RDI's Altria Group, Inc. Research Report at:
https://www.rdinvesting.com/report/?ticker=MO

Our Actionable Research on Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM) and Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE: MO) can be downloaded free of charge at Research Driven Investing.

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