Philip Morris shares close higher on Thursday, company says it is working on options to leave Russian market

Philip Morris International Inc (PM) announced on Thursday that it was working on options to leave the Russian market, as it cited a complex and rapidly changing regulatory and operating environment there, following Russia’s incursion into Ukraine.

Philip Morris said it had stopped selling several cigarette products and had canceled all product launches for this year in Russia.

The company also canceled plans to produce more than 20 billion TEREA sticks, heated tobacco units intended to be used with its IQOS ILUMA devices.

The Marlboro maker generated about 6% of its net revenue in Russia in 2021.

Philip Morris shares closed higher for the sixth time in the past ten trading sessions in New York on Thursday. It has also been the sharpest single-session gain since March 15th. The stock went up 1.46% ($1.33) to $92.58, after touching an intraday low at $91.33 and an intraday high at $93.08 respectively.

Shares of Philip Morris International have retreated 2.55% so far in 2022 compared with a 5.16% loss for the benchmark index, S&P 500 (SPX).

In 2021, Philip Morris International’s stock went up 14.75%, thus, it underperformed the S&P 500, which registered a 26.89% gain.

Analyst stock price forecast and recommendation

According to TipRanks, at least 4 out of 7 surveyed investment analysts had rated Philip Morris International Inc’s stock as “Buy”, while 3 – as “Hold”. The median price target on the stock stands at $111.00.