Philip Morris cuts full-year earnings outlook

[June 22, 2012]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Philip Morris International Inc., the world's second biggest cigarette company, is lowering its full-year earnings guidance for the second time.

The seller of Marlboro cigarettes and other brands in markets outside the United States said Thursday that the revision was due to unfavorable foreign currency exchange rates.

Its stock fell 61 cents to $87.90 in premarket trading.

The company now expects earnings of $5.10 to $5.20 per share. In April Philip Morris had cut its outlook to a range of $5.20 to $5.30 per share. Prior to that, it forecast earnings between $5.25 and $5.35 per share.

Analysts polled by FactSet predict earnings of $5.23 per share for the year.

Last week Philip Morris announced that it plans to buy back $18 billion of its common stock over a three-year period.

Philip Morris International Inc., which has offices in in New York and Lausanne, Switzerland, is the world's second-biggest cigarette company after the state-controlled China National Tobacco Corp.

[Associated Press]

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