Philip Morris Profit Falls - Update

(RTTNews) - Philip Morris International Inc. (PM) Thursday reported a five percent drop in fourth-quarter profit, hurt mainly by weak volumes in Asia and Europe as well foreign exchange losses. However, results for the quarter came in line with Wall Street estimates.

The New York-based company posted quarterly net income of $1.99 billion or $1.24 a share, compared with $2.1 billion or $1.25 a share last year.

Excluding foreign currency losses, earnings for the recent quarter were 1.37 per share.

On average, 15 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated earnings of $1.37 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Sales for the quarter edged down 1.3 percent to $7.79 billion from $7.89 billion a year ago. Eleven analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $7.79 billion for the quarter.

Excluding foreign currency losses, sales were up 2.5 percent.

Cigarette shipments for the quarter slid 4 percent from last year to 223.2 billion units. Among regions, volumes in Asia declined 9.4 percent, while Europe was down 5 percent. Latin America and Canada gained 4 percent.

Looking ahead to fiscal year 2014, Philip Morris expect earnings in the range of $5.02 to $5.12 per share, and excluding currency impact, earnings are projected to grow 6 percent to 8 percent from last year's $5.40 per share.

Analysts currently estimate earnings of $5.40 per share for the quarter.

Philip Morris International is currently trading at $78.18, up $1.28 or 1.66%, on a volume of 3.7 million shares on the NYSE.