Is Philip Morris International (PM) Stock Outpacing Its Consumer Staples Peers This Year?
Investors interested in Consumer Staples stocks should always be looking to find the best-performing companies in the group. Is Philip Morris International (PM) one of those stocks right now? By taking a look at the stock's year-to-date performance in comparison to its Consumer Staples peers, we might be able to answer that question.
Philip Morris International is one of 180 individual stocks in the Consumer Staples sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #10 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank gauges the strength of our 16 individual sector groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups.
The Zacks Rank is a proven model that highlights a variety of stocks with the right characteristics to outperform the market over the next one to three months. The system emphasizes earnings estimate revisions and favors companies with improving earnings outlooks. PM is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for PM's full-year earnings has moved 0.41% higher within the past quarter. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company's earnings outlook is stronger.
According to our latest data, PM has moved about 25.43% on a year-to-date basis. Meanwhile, the Consumer Staples sector has returned an average of 16.62% on a year-to-date basis. This means that Philip Morris International is performing better than its sector in terms of year-to-date returns.
To break things down more, PM belongs to the Tobacco industry, a group that includes 9 individual companies and currently sits at #53 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 18% this year, meaning that PM is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.
Going forward, investors interested in Consumer Staples stocks should continue to pay close attention to PM as it looks to continue its solid performance.
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