Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM) will try to beat its earnings estimates for the third consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday. Philip Morris International is the holding company whose subsidiaries and affiliates manufacture and sell cigarettes and other tobacco products in markets outside the U.S.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts strongly back Philip Morris International, with nine of 11 rating it a buy and the remainder rating it a hold. Analysts like Philip Morris International better than competitor Altria Group overall. Analysts haven't adjusted their rating of Philip Morris International for the past three months.
  • Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $7.57 billion in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 14.5% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $1.23 per share. Estimates range from $1.15 to $1.27.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly backing the stock with 99.1% awarding it an outperform rating. The community at large concurs with the All-Stars with 98.1% assigning it a rating of outperform. Fools are keen on Philip Morris International and haven't been shy with their opinions lately, logging 826 posts in the past 30 days. Philip Morris International has a bullish CAPS rating of five out of five stars that is about on par with the Fool community assessment.

Management:
Philip Morris International's profit has risen year over year by an average of 12.7% over the past five quarters. Revenue has now gone up for three straight quarters.

Now let's look at how efficient management is at running the business. Traditionally, margins represent the efficiency with which companies capture portions of sales dollars. The following table shows gross, operating, and net margins over the past four quarters.

Quarter

Q2

Q1

Q4

Q3

Gross Margin

65.6%

66.2%

64.5%

65.4%

Operating Margin

44.9%

44.3%

39.0%

42.9%

Net Margin

29.1%

28.3%

24.9%

27.5%

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