Latest news with #Iqos
Yahoo
27-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Philip Morris International Shares Tumble: Time to Run for the Hills or Buy the Dip?
Key Points Philip Morris International shares fell after the company's second-quarter report, despite strong earnings and increased EPS guidance. The company is expecting to see cigarette sales volumes decline in the second half. The real story at Philip Morris is about the continued strong growth of Zyn and Iqos. 10 stocks we like better than Philip Morris International › Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM) stock has had a strong 2025 so far, but the shares pulled back after the company reported its second-quarter results. That dip left the stock up about 36% on the year, as of this writing. Is the recent slide a buying opportunity or should investors be running for the hills? Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue » Strong volume growth The Zyn brand remains the driving force behind Philip Morris' robust sales growth. Shipments of the popular nicotine pouches jumped 40% in the U.S. to 190 million cans in Q2, while retail sales volumes (offtake) grew by 26% in the quarter and by 36% in June. Outside of the U.S. and Nordic countries, Zyn shipments more than doubled, and it is now available in 44 markets. Overall oral product shipments climbed 23.8% on a pouch basis. The company said Zyn restocking in the U.S. is now effectively complete. It continues to expect U.S. Zyn shipments to be between 800 million and 840 million cans for the year. Image source: Getty Images The rest of Philip Morris' smokeless portfolio also performed well. Sales volumes of its heated tobacco units (HTUs), including the Iqos system, jumped nearly 9.2% to 38.8 billion units. The company said in-market sales (to end users) jumped 11.4%. Iqos continues to perform well in Japan and Europe and is seeing strong growth in other major cities outside its two main markets. Philip Morris also once again saw shipment growth more than double for its e-vapor product, Veev, driven by pod growth in Europe. Veev is now in 42 markets and holds the No. 1 market share in six European markets. Traditional cigarette volumes, meanwhile, fell by 1.5% to 155.2 billion units. Segment organic revenue, however, grew 2% to $6 billion, and gross profits for the category climbed 5% to $4 billion, as the company's price hikes more than compensated for those volume declines. Overall, organic revenue, which excludes currency effects, acquisitions, and dispositions, rose 6.8% year over year to $10.1 billion. Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) climbed 20% to $1.91. Oral Products (Zyn) HTUs Cigarettes Smoke-Free Total Volume growth 23.8% 9.2% (1.5%) N/A 1.2% Organic revenue growth N/A N/A 2% 14.5% 6.8% HTUs = heated tobacco units. Management maintained its full-year guidance for organic revenue while upping its adjusted EPS forecast. It continues to expect strong results from both Zyn and Iqos, but expects a 3% to 4% decline in traditional cigarette volumes due to ongoing issues in Turkey and Indonesia. The headwind in Turkey is related to supply chain issues following a change in regulatory requirements, while in Indonesia, it's battling to keep market share in the face of growing sales of illicit cigarettes. However, it's still expecting solid gross profit growth from its combustible tobacco business due to its pricing power and cost efficiencies. Metric Prior Guidance Updated Guidance Organic revenue growth 6% to 8% 6% to 8% Adjusted EPS $7.01 to $7.14 $7.43 to $7.56 Adjusted EPS growth* 10.5% to 12.5% $7.33 to $7.46 Volume growth 2% 1% Data source: Philip Morris International. *Adjusted EPS growth excludes currency exchange impacts. EPS = earnings per share. Should investors buy the dip? While investors may have been disappointed by Philip Morris' forecast for steeper declines in cigarette sales volumes in the second half, about half of that is due to a temporary issue around its Turkish supply chain. Meanwhile, the big reason to own the stock is its smoke-free portfolio, led by Zyn and Iqos. Both products continue to demonstrate strong growth and have better unit economics than Philip Morris' traditional cigarette business. It's also expanding these products to new markets, with early signs of success. Importantly, the company is hoping that the FDA will approve the Iqos Iluma for sale in the U.S. later this year, which would set it up to enter this market now that it has reacquired its U.S. rights from Altria. From a valuation perspective, the stock got cheaper when management raised its EPS guidance and its share price fell. The stock now trades at a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of under 22, based on the analyst consensus for 2025, with a PEG (price/earnings-to-growth) ratio of under 0.35. Stocks with positive PEG ratios below 1 are generally viewed as undervalued. While at the current share price, Philip Morris' dividend has a nice 3.3% forward yield, that's not as high a yield as other tobacco stocks. However, what it lacks in yield, it makes up for by being a unique growth stock in a defensive industry. This is a stock you'll want to own over the long haul, and the dip in the stock price offers a nice buying opportunity. Should you invest $1,000 in Philip Morris International right now? Before you buy stock in Philip Morris International, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Philip Morris International wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $636,628!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,063,471!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,041% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 183% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 21, 2025 Geoffrey Seiler has positions in Philip Morris International. The Motley Fool recommends Philip Morris International. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Japan Times
06-06-2025
- Health
- Japan Times
Smoke and mirrors: How big tobacco manipulates science in Japan
In April 2019, I joined Philip Morris Japan as director of medical and scientific affairs. I'm a doctor — and a smoker — and after 25 years working in global health for the Foreign Ministry, I was attracted by the smoke-free vision of Philip Morris International, the world's largest tobacco company. Philip Morris, headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, states that it is building its future on 'smoke-free products that — while not risk-free — are a far better choice than cigarette smoking.' Products such as its Iqos 'heat-not-burn' device, which heats tobacco without setting it alight, offer a better alternative for adults 'who would otherwise continue smoking cigarettes,' the company says, claiming that this amounts to 'tobacco harm reduction.' Yet while working at Philip Morris Japan, I came to view this as an illusion, a vision used to mislead customers around the world, including in Japan. It was here that Iqos was first launched in 2014 and the country remains the most successful market for the device — with Iqos' global revenue now surpassing that of Marlboro, the world's bestselling cigarette brand, also owned by Philip Morris. I decided to come clean after witnessing how the company used what I believe amounts to bribery to manipulate scientific research at some of Japan's leading universities to show that heated tobacco products are less harmful than cigarettes — despite this not being backed by independent science. After raising my concerns within Philip Morris Japan to little effect and my firing in October 2019, I decided to share my story with government authorities and the media. I am now advocating for an end to improper and potentially illegal practices in this industry and for Japan's tobacco policy to change. I became one of only a handful of whistleblowers in the history of the global tobacco industry to help break the spell that so many are under. Dubious harm reduction claims Philip Morris International says that it has 'dedicated more than 1,460 scientists, engineers and technicians, and invested over USD 14 billion in the research and development of innovative smoke-free products.' It also claims that, according to 'laboratory tests,' the aerosol (smoke) from Iqos and similar products 'has an average of 95% lower levels of harmful and potentially harmful constituents (HPHCs) and is less toxic than cigarette smoke.' Without directly stating that Iqos are less harmful than cigarettes, Philip Morris' message is a smart combination of four talking points: Heated tobacco's aerosol has less HPHC, tobacco harm is reduced, Iqos is a better alternative to cigarettes and therefore better for public health, and the company is committed to a smoke-free future. In April 2019, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized the marketing of Iqos, a decision 'largely predicated on scientific research provided by PMI (Philip Morris International) in its application, including its clinical and post-market studies from Japan,' as stated in a paper by the Tobacco Control Research Group of the University of Bath in the United Kingdom. In July 2020, the FDA went on to approve Iqos as a modified risk tobacco product, namely one that reduces the risk or harm of tobacco-related disease — a profoundly disappointing decision and one based on the lower levels of HPHC detected in heated tobacco smoke. However, in an earlier deliberation, the FDA's own Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee denied that such reduced exposure was likely to lead to a 'measurable and substantial reduction in morbidity and mortality.' In addition, in a study published last year, a group of researchers from Yokohama City University found that the cigarette smoke extract of heated tobacco products and combustible cigarettes both induce cytotoxicity, i.e., cell damage. Yet many view heated tobacco products as reducing the risk of tobacco-related diseases, especially in Japan, the country with the highest use of these products globally. Such beliefs are 'in defiance of independent research evidence,' according to The BMJ medical journal. Regardless of how many harmful constituents are present in Iqos and similar devices' smoke, what really counts is how much actual harm they cause the human body. Where there's smoke, there's fire When I joined Philip Morris Japan, I inherited two cooperation projects with the University of Tokyo and Kyoto University. In the former case, the company was paying ¥36 million ($250,000) annually to a private consultancy firm owned by a University of Tokyo professor. As I told my superiors at the time, the firm didn't provide Philip Morris Japan with deliverables that justified such a high fee: These amounted to some low-quality academic articles and a medical industry forum at the university on innovation in and public acceptance of heat-not-burn tobacco products (and vaccines). The real purpose of the ¥36 million, I learned through company documents and colleagues, was to facilitate the hiring of an economist employed by Philip Morris International as a visiting scholar within the professor's university department and then to publish research under the university's name. I raised my concerns internally: Given the substantial size of the payments and the lack of due diligence when it came to the relationship with the consultancy firm, I pointed out that this arrangement posed reputational risks for Philip Morris. I feared that the payments could amount to bribery. Ultimately, the economist wasn't hired as a visiting scholar and — while the professor didn't disclose the payments his company was receiving from Philip Morris Japan to the university — a university investigation was conducted in 2020, five years after the consultancy had started receiving ¥36 million a year from my former employer. The university found no conflicts of interest or breaches of its code of conduct. This is despite its ethics guidelines stating that its employees cannot use their position 'to advance private interests for their own benefit or for the benefit of organizations to which they belong.' Visitors of a tobacco products store in Tokyo are only allowed to use heated tobacco products like Philip Morris' Iqos. If Japan is to make its indoor smoking ban effective, it must extend it to smoking rooms for heated tobacco products. | REUTERS In the Kyoto University case, Philip Morris Japan paid ¥18 million a year to research contractor CMIC, which in turn paid ¥16.5 million to a professor from the university. Kyoto University's ethics committee approved a CMIC-sponsored research project to be conducted by the professor, but no mention of Philip Morris was made in the contract between the firm and the institution or in the university's official records. The research — which focused on Japanese smokers undergoing smoking cessation treatment and was also provided to the FDA — was supervised by CMIC. In my view, the professor did not provide a labor input equivalent to the ¥16.5 million he was receiving, therefore also raising my suspicions that this amounted to bribery. While it is standard practice for companies, including in the tobacco industry, to sponsor scientific research, what also worried me was that in this case, this was not out in the open. Philip Morris Japan's compliance office investigated my allegations of wrongful conduct, but these were found to be without merit. I was given a negative performance evaluation and told I had failed my probation period at the company. Eventually, I was dismissed. I believe this was a form of retaliation for having raised my concerns, though my former employer denies my termination was unlawful. However rigorously Japanese scientific research standards are applied, they cannot fully prevent wrongdoing by people committed to working for both research and industry in unethical and potentially corrupt ways. After all, a vision founded on deliberate scientific fraud is an illusion. Fighting back Once I was fired, I could start to truly fight back. Where raising the alarm internally hadn't worked, the only option was to look outside. 'Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants,' late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brendeis once wrote. I approached the Japanese health and finance ministries, with the latter exercising significant authority over tobacco policy, from price and tax approval to regulating marketing and health warnings. No serious action came of this. In May 2020, I also received a subpoena from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), who I had contacted on suspicion that Philip Morris' actions may have breached the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Under it, a publicly traded American company is prohibited from bribing foreign officials — including employees at state-funded universities. While I am not aware of an ongoing SEC case, it is not standard practice for the commission to divulge such information — not even to whistleblowers — so as to preserve the integrity of investigations. What I do know is that not long after my interview, Philip Morris International hired a new general counsel, Suzanne Rich Folsom, a corporate governance expert with rich experience in investigations and compliance. As well as talking to government officials, I also turned to the media. I was in touch with a reporter from a major Japanese newspaper and, despite their initial interest in my case, nothing came of it. Later, I found that Philip Morris International was sponsoring a conference organized by the same media outlet and that the tobacco conglomerate's CEO, Jacek Olczak, was due to speak at the event. But the sponsorship was cancelled just a few days before the forum, after several speakers had withdrawn their attendance in protest. Yet as recently as this March, two other Japanese outlets published interviews with Olczak, including statements that heated tobacco products substantially decrease exposure to cigarettes' harmful substances and that they present fewer health harms compared to their combustible counterparts. Perhaps I can't blame these newspapers for publicizing misleading tobacco industry talking points. After all, I myself had once believed in the positive health effects of heated tobacco products and Philip Morris' smoke-free vision. After my revelations failed to spark much attention in Japan, I turned to academics and journalists in the U.K. The University of Bath's Tobacco Control Research Group published articles detailing how Philip Morris Japan tried to 'exploit science' at Japanese universities. In Nicotine & Tobacco Research, it wrote that 'some of PMI's most significant clinical and post-market studies were conducted in Japan ... However, our findings raise concerns about the integrity of this evidence base and, by extension, the true harms of PMI's products.' Still in the U.K., The Bureau of Investigative Journalism published an expose and several stories as a result of my whistleblowing. In them, Japan is described as a 'tobacco state' because of the close relationship between tobacco companies and government agencies. For example, Japan Tobacco International, one of the world's largest tobacco manufacturers, is one-third owned by the finance ministry. Yet these revelations were largely ignored by the Japanese media. Moving forward My message is simple. Japan should address and properly regulate the entire spectrum of nicotine delivery products, from the most to the least harmful. If heated tobacco products are allowed, Japan should be consistent in its policy and also permit e-cigarettes: These contain nicotine but not tobacco and are classified as medicinal rather than tobacco products under Japanese law, which bans their sale. E-cigarettes are not risk-free and many health authorities express concern about their use, especially among young people. Yet these devices have been found to be less harmful than smoking conventional cigarettes, as detailed by sources such as National Health Service in the U.K. and John Hopkins University in the U.S. 'For people who smoke, legal e-cigarettes are an option to help them stop,' according to Cancer Research U.K., the world's largest independent cancer nonprofit. Also, Japanese regulators should ban heated tobacco smoking rooms, which it approved when the country adopted its indoor smoking ban in 2020: An outcome that Philip Morris Japan lobbied for, targeting select politicians with — guess what — favorable scientific research. When I was dismissed from the company, I faced turmoil and financial concerns. I was initially afraid to have my name out in public, but I was inspired to speak out by those who revealed the sexual abuse they had faced in the Japanese entertainment sector. Every time I pass an Iqos store, I cannot help but feel that I did the right thing in making my voice heard to protect public health. Awareness of hypocrisy and malpractice in the tobacco industry is the first, concrete step toward a truly smoke-free world. Shiro Konuma is the director of an elderly care home in Hokkaido. A former director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Global Health Policy Division, in 2019 he was briefly director of medical and scientific affairs at Philip Morris Japan.
Yahoo
01-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
This Monster Dividend Growth Stock Is Up 50% So Far This Year
Philip Morris International is seeing growing demand for its alternative nicotine products and is getting a boost from a depreciating dollar. The company is still harvesting a ton of cash flow from its legacy cigarette business. The stock is more expensive than previously but can still deliver sold returns for shareholders. 10 stocks we like better than Philip Morris International › The stock market has been choppy in 2025. Dipping and soaring seemingly each month, the S&P 500 index is basically now flat this year. Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM) has gone straight up and to the right. Shares of the international nicotine giant have posted a 50% total return so far in 2025, making it one of the best-performing large-cap stocks of the last few months and crushing the index returns. It is a heavy dividend payer and benefiting from multiple tailwinds that should drive earnings much higher in the years to come. But is the stock still a buy today? Philip Morris International's returns are a cumulation of bets made over the past 10 years. The company rightfully saw that cigarette usage was declining around the world and pivoted its business to other nicotine products that are seeing strong consumer adoption. In the heat-not-burn category it has the leading brand called Iqos with 77% volume share in the markets it operates, making it the dominant player in the space. In nicotine pouches it owns the leading brand in Zyn with similar market share characteristics. Combined, Iqos and Zyn have changed the complexion of Philip Morris' business. Last quarter, 42% of the company's revenue came from smoke-free products, and 44% of gross profit. Higher gross profits from alternative nicotine products shows the better unit economics these brands have compared to cigarettes, which is a high bar. This is why Philip Morris' overall revenue has inflected higher in the last few years to $38 billion over the last 12 months. On top of its lead in new nicotine products, Philip Morris International is benefiting from a weaker U.S. dollar. The Dollar Index has fallen from around 110 to under 100 to start 2025, which shows the U.S. dollar depreciating compared to other currencies. Philip Morris International does not operate in the United States except with its Zyn brand (and with Iqos in the future), meaning that a depreciating dollar will help it earn more in revenue in U.S. dollar terms. Wall Street has anticipated this boost to revenue, adding more fuel to the stock price to start the year. Management at Philip Morris International made the brilliant move of investing in alternative nicotine products ahead of the competition. Cigarettes are going the way of the horse and buggy, likely becoming a smaller part of this business every year going forward. This does not mean the segment cannot generate heaps of cash flow for the next few decades. Outside of China and the United States -- where Philip Morris International does not operate for cigarettes -- global cigarette usage is expected to decline by 1% in 2025. Through pricing power, cigarettes can deliver revenue and earnings growth for Philip Morris International for a long while. This isn't the United States where volumes are declining by around 10% a year. Last quarter, combustibles gross profit grew 5.3% year over year for the company. Cigarettes are not dead yet. Especially not in the international markets where Philip Morris International operates. After delivering such strong returns to start 2025, investors may wonder if the stock's best days are behind it. Let's dive into the valuation to analyze whether that is true or not. The stock's forward price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) has risen to 24 compared to 14 at the start of last year. Its dividend yield is now 3% compared to close to 6% a year ago. Both these metrics make Philip Morris International stock more expensive in a vacuum compared to a year ago. Since price matters in investing, this rising valuation indicates to me that these monster 50% returns in less than a year are not sustainable for Philip Morris International stock. However, this does not mean the stock is a bad buy today. It still has a solid dividend yield of 3%, can keep growing its dividend payout, and trades at a P/E ratio around the market average. With the growth of Iqos and Zyn along with the pricing power of cigarettes, revenue and earnings can grow at a double-digit rate for many years into the future. This should lead to solid long-term returns for Philip Morris International shareholders. Just don't expect the same spectacular returns of the last few months. Before you buy stock in Philip Morris International, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Philip Morris International wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $651,049!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $828,224!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 979% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 171% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of May 19, 2025 Brett Schafer has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Philip Morris International. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This Monster Dividend Growth Stock Is Up 50% So Far This Year was originally published by The Motley Fool
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A Billionaire Just Bought One of My Favorite Stocks. Should You Jump in Too?
While he's known more as a tech investor, billionaire Philippe Laffont recently added Philip Morris International to his portfolio. The company has the unique combination of being a growth stock in a defensive industry. Its valuation is still attractive. 10 stocks we like better than Philip Morris International › During the first quarter, billionaire investor Philippe Laffont of Coatue Management added one of my favorite stocks to his portfolio: Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM). The tobacco company has the rare combination of being a growth stock in a defensive industry. Laffont is best known for being a tech investor, and this can be seen in the makeup of his portfolio. Among his top-10 holdings are Meta Platforms, Amazon, Taiwan Semiconductor, Microsoft, Nvidia, Spotify, and Atlassian. However, he will venture into other industries and has large positions in utility Constellation Energy and industrial giant Eaton. So, while Philip Morris International is a departure from his typical technology investment, it's not completely out of his wheelhouse. During the first quarter, he bought just over $220 million worth of the stock. It was his fourth-largest purchase and second-largest new addition, behind a $555 million investment in data center developer CoreWeave. There are a number of reasons why Laffont may have invested in Philip Morris. First and foremost is that it has become a growth company led by its Zyn and Iqos smokeless products. Zyn is a flavored nicotine pouch that has taken the U.S. by storm. It is particularly popular among young adult males, but has gained traction with office workers and women. A large part of its appeal is its subtlety, as it doesn't have the smell of cigarettes or the mess of chewing tobacco. It's also promoted as an alternative to regular tobacco products and has gained a lot of social media buzz. The product has been a huge growth driver for Philip Morris, including in Q1 when Zyn U.S. shipment volumes surged 53% to 202 million cans. Some of that was from retail inventory restocking, but consumer demand for Zyn remains high. As such, Philip Morris increased its full-year Zyn guidance, with it now expecting to ship between 800 million and 840 million cans, up from a prior outlook of between 780 million and 820 million cans. Likewise, Philip Morris' Iqos heated tobacco product has been gaining popularity in international markets. The product uses a battery-powered device that heats tobacco sticks to produce a nicotine-containing aerosol without combustion. Like Zyn, it is considered an alternative to smoking. It's marketed as a premium product and has taken off in such markets as Japan. Last quarter, the company's heated tobacco units (HTUs) volumes, which includes Iqos, climbed nearly 12% to 37.1 billion units. The company said that in-market sales (those to end users) rose 9% in Japan and more than 7% in Europe, while it also began to see strong growth from cities outside of these markets. Philip Morris has also bought back Iqos' U.S. rights from Altria, and will look to broadly roll out the product in the U.S. once its newer Iluma system gets approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Currently, the company is piloting Iqos in Austin, Texas, with its older heating device. Iqos' entry into the U.S. could be a nice driver for Philip Morris. There would be no cannibalization of existing customers, as the company does not sell cigarettes in the country. One of the big benefits of both Zyn and Iqos is that they also have much better unit economics than traditional cigarettes. Philip Morris has said that Zyn has six times better product contribution levels than traditional combustible tobacco products, while Iqos has around 2 to 2.5 times. That means that both are more profitable for the company to sell than cigarettes. In addition to the strong growth coming from its smokeless portfolio, Philip Morris does not face the same issues as many other tobacco companies that sell cigarettes in the U.S. Cigarette volumes in the U.S. have been seeing a steep decline due to health concerns and the popularity of vaping and products like Zyn. Meanwhile, illicit Chinese products tend to dominate the U.S. vaping market since they are flavored, and the U.S. government has not been able to stop their inflow. Instead, Philip Morris has been able to produce modest cigarette volume growth in its international markets, where smoking tends to be more socially acceptable. This, combined with strong pricing power, is still leading to solid growth in its traditional cigarette business. At the same time, Zyn and Iqos are its growth drivers. While not entirely immune to a global recession, Philip Morris is about as recession-resistant as they come, thanks to the steady demand for its nicotine products. The company also benefits from having a global manufacturing network, which reduces its exposure to tariffs. For example, Zyn is manufactured in Kentucky, and the company is building a new facility in Colorado to meet growing demand. Philip Morris often operates factories close to its end markets, including major sites in Poland for Europe and the Philippines for Asia. At the same time, the stock is attractively valued. It's trading at a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of under 23 times, based on the analyst consensus for 2025, with a PEG (price/earnings-to-growth) ratio of under 0.35. Stocks with PEG ratios below 1 are generally considered undervalued. Given its defensive nature, along with its growth and valuation, Philip Morris remains one of my favorite stocks. As such, I think investors can follow Laffont's lead and be buyers of the stock around current levels. Before you buy stock in Philip Morris International, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Philip Morris International wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $642,582!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $829,879!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 975% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 172% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of May 12, 2025 John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Geoffrey Seiler has positions in Philip Morris International. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Atlassian, Constellation Energy, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, Spotify Technology, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. The Motley Fool recommends Philip Morris International and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. A Billionaire Just Bought One of My Favorite Stocks. Should You Jump in Too? was originally published by The Motley Fool
Korea Herald
09-05-2025
- Business
- Korea Herald
KT&G resumes heated tobacco device supply after relocation to Malaysia
KT&G has normalized the supply of its next-generation heated tobacco device, lil Hybrid 3.0, following the relocation of its production base from Vietnam to Malaysia earlier this month. KT&G supplier Elentec had produced the lil Hybrid 3.0 at its Hanoi plant, but operations stopped in December due to sudden regulatory changes. The disruption forced KT&G to temporarily halt domestic sales of the device in February. By expediting the relocation process, the company has managed to restore stable distribution in Korea by early May, despite initial expectations that the supply shortfall would continue through June. With the supply chain stabilized, KT&G is poised to reinforce its leadership in Korea's heated tobacco market, where lil currently holds around 46 percent market share. The company remains in a close contest with Philip Morris International's Iqos, trailing by only about one percentage point. 'The temporary supply disruption has been swiftly resolved, and as of early May, devices are once again being supplied normally in the domestic market,' a KT&G official said. 'With supply now stabilized, we expect to further strengthen our leadership in the heated tobacco market.' Meanwhile, KT&G reported strong financial results for the first quarter of 2025 on Thursday, driven by robust growth in its global combustibles business. Revenue rose 15.4 percent year-on-year to 1.49 trillion won ($1.1 billion), while operating profit climbed 20.7 percent to 285.6 billion won. The core tobacco division saw revenue rise 15.3 percent to 988 billion won, with operating profit up 22.4 percent to 252.9 billion won, bolstered by high overseas demand. KT&G's overseas combustibles segment posted its fourth consecutive quarter of 'triple growth' — in sales, operating profit and shipment volume — fueled by price increases and expanded market reach. Operating profit in the segment soared 312.5 percent year-on-year, while revenue jumped 53.9 percent to a record 449.1 billion won. 'With exchange rate volatility and domestic market challenges, our focus on profitability and global expansion has delivered strong growth in both revenue and earnings,' a KT&G official said. Following the recent completion of a new plant in Kazakhstan and another under construction in Indonesia, KT&G expects continued momentum in its global business.
