Key insights
- The author expresses a positive outlook on Philip Morris (PM) based on Q1 earnings and the growing popularity of IQOS in Japan and Zyn in both Japan and Canada. They believe PM's smokeless tobacco products will drive future sales as traditional tobacco declines. The author holds a long position in PM and is open to acquiring more shares.
Earnings looked pretty good nothing outstanding but solid nonetheless. I'm currently living in japan and iqos is super popular here as well as I've started to see a pick up in zyns here. All of my coworkers in restaurants back in canada were on the zyns. So i'm pretty confident in PM's smokeless line driving sales as regular tobacco seems to decline a bit.
Positions are 200 shares at 156 ACB and 2 puts at $160 as i' happy to pick up another 200 if it drops again.
Growth opportunities seem solid and they have a solid dividend.