12:50 PM EDT, 07/22/2025 (MT Newswires) -- CFRA, an independent research provider, has provided MT Newswires with the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows:

We maintain our 12-month target of $175, based on a 2026 P/E of 21.2x, a justified premium to its 10-year mean forward P/E of 17.8x due to growth prospects. We raise our adjusted EPS estimates to $7.50 from $7.45 for 2025 and to $8.25 from $8.15 for 2026. PM posted Q2 adjusted EPS of $1.91 vs. $1.59 (+20%) in Q2 2024, ahead of the $1.86 consensus. Net sales rose 7.1% to $10.14 billion ($190 million below consensus) and gross margin expanded 300 bps to 67.7% (120 bps ahead of consensus). PM again raised full-year adjusted EPS guidance to $7.43-$7.56 from $7.36-$7.49 previously (current consensus = $7.49). Despite the beat and raise, PM shares are currently trading down more than 8%. While we thought it was a solid earnings release, we think the surprisingly weaker-than-expected sales growth spooked investors and that many were hoping for a larger upward guidance revision. The stock has been a massive outperformer so far in 2025, and we think the profit-taking is a case of the stock being priced for perfection.