Philip Morris Reports Q4 Miss, Poor Guidance; Shares Dip

Shares of

were trading lower by nearly 2 percent early Thursday morning after the company reported its

. Philip Morris said that it earned $0.80 per share in the fourth quarter on revenue of $6.4 billion. Wall Street analysts were expecting the company to earn $0.81 per share on revenue of $6.5 billion. Cigarette shipment volume for the quarter fell 2.4 percent from a year ago to 209.8 billion. Accordingly, the company's reported operating income of $2.0 billion marked a 23.6 percent year over year decrease. Earnings per share for the full fiscal year fell 7.1 percent from 2014's level to $4.42 while revenue fell 10.0 percent over the same time period to $26.8 billion. Cigarette shipment volume for the full fiscal year fell 1.0 percent to 847.3 billion units. Looking forward to 2016, Philip Morris guided its full year earnings per share to a range of $4.25 to $4.35 - short of the $4.52 Wall Street analysts were already estimating. "PMI had an excellent year in 2015. Against a backdrop of improving industry volume trends in many key geographies, our cigarette brand portfolio performed superbly, driven by solid market share gains – underpinned by the successful roll-out of the Marlboro 2.0 Architecture – our enhanced commercial approach, and investments made in both 2014 and 2015 to support our business. Furthermore, our underlying financial results, underpinned by robust pricing, and our strong free cash flow, were equally impressive," said André Calantzopoulos, Chief Executive Officer of Philip Morris. "We enter 2016 with enhanced business fundamentals and ongoing strategic initiatives that will strengthen them further. While currency headwinds endure, we fully expect to continue to grow our business and generously reward our shareholders."