What to expect when Philip Morris International (PM) reports Q2 2023 earnings

Shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM) stayed green on Wednesday. The stock has gained 6% over the past one month. The tobacco giant is scheduled to report second quarter 2023 earnings results on Thursday, July 20, before market open. Here’s what to expect from the earnings report:

Revenue

Analysts are projecting revenue of $8.6 billion for Q2 2023, which would represent a growth of 10% from the same period a year ago. In Q1 2023, revenues increased 3.5% year-over-year to $8 billion.

Earnings

Philip Morris has guided for adjusted EPS of $1.42-1.47 for Q2 2023. Analysts are estimating EPS of $1.47, which compares to EPS of $1.32 in the year-ago quarter. In Q1 2023, adjusted EPS fell 4.4% to $1.38.

Points to note

PMI is expected to benefit from strength in IQOS, which continues to gain share across geographies and is seeing a rise in adoption. In its Q1 report, the company said there were an estimated 25.8 million IQOS users as of March 31.

IQOS ILUMA has helped drive further growth in the category, with an estimated 10 million users. ILUMA took over 85% of HTU volumes in markets like Japan, Switzerland and Spain. In addition to strong gains in developed countries, PMI is seeing promising growth for IQOS in low and middle income markets.

PMI will also benefit from the growth of nicotine pouch brand ZYN, which it gained from the Swedish Match acquisition. In Q1, ZYN saw volume growth of 47% in the US. The company sees significant opportunity to increase distribution and velocity, i.e. number of cans sold per store per week, for ZYN.

The company’s margins were impacted by inflationary pressures and supply chain headwinds in the first quarter. Margins are expected to remain pressured by inflation and growth investments through the year.