PM · Consumer staples(cigarettes) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-12-31
Philip Morris International Inc. reported revenue of $40.6 billion in fiscal 2025, after growing 4.8% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin narrowed from 40.9% in 2016 to 36.6%, and it earned -121.7% on its invested capital in the latest year. Of the $102.8 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 72.5% went to dividends and 15.6% to acquisitions. On the accounting screens, it passes 6 of 9 Piotroski tests and its Altman Z'' of 2.88 is in the safe zone; none of the six cross-checks between its statements fires.
Revenue, fiscal 202540.6B+4.8% a year over 9 years
Operating margin36.6%gross margin 67.1%
Return on invested capital-121.7%-141.2% on average over 5 years
Free cash flow10.7B26.2% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDANet cash4.7B more cash than debt
Piotroski F-score6/9tests of improvement passed
Is it growing?
Revenue and the operating income it turns into. Growth that does not reach operating income is growth bought with margin.
RevenueOperating income
020.0B40.0B60.0B
2016Revenue 26.7BOperating income 10.9B
2017Revenue 28.7BOperating income 11.6B
2018Revenue 29.6BOperating income 11.4B
2019Revenue 29.8BOperating income 10.5B
2020Revenue 28.7BOperating income 11.7B
2021Revenue 31.4BOperating income 13.0B
2022Revenue 31.8BOperating income 12.2B
2023Revenue 35.2BOperating income 11.6B
2024Revenue 37.9BOperating income 13.4B
2025Revenue 40.6BOperating income 14.9B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
+8.6%
+7.2%
+4.8%
Operating income
+6.7%
+5.0%
+3.5%
Net income
+7.8%
+7.1%
+5.6%
Earnings per share
+7.7%
+7.1%
+5.5%
Free cash flow per share
+3.0%
+3.0%
+4.9%
Dividend per share
+3.2%
+3.2%
+3.4%
Shares
+0.1%
+0.0%
+0.1%
Falling shares are buybacks: each remaining share owns more of the company.
Does it earn more than its capital costs?
Margins say how much of each sale is kept; return on invested capital says how much the business earns on the money it needs to operate. Growth only creates value when that return is above the cost of the capital.
Return on invested capitalCost of capital today · 10.6%
-300.0%-200.0%-100.0%0.0%100.0%
2016Return on invested capital -65.3%
2017Return on invested capital -59.3%
2018Return on invested capital -74.8%
2019Return on invested capital -71.9%
2020Return on invested capital -74.1%
2021Return on invested capital -102.6%
2022Return on invested capital -297.7%
2023Return on invested capital -96.9%
2024Return on invested capital -86.9%
2025Return on invested capital -121.7%
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Economic profit
Economic profit
05.0B10.0B15.0B
2016Economic profit 9.1B
2017Economic profit 8.1B
2018Economic profit 10.0B
2019Economic profit 9.3B
2020Economic profit 10.4B
2021Economic profit 11.2B
2022Economic profit 10.2B
2023Economic profit 9.9B
2024Economic profit 11.3B
2025Economic profit 13.0B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
(return on capital − cost of capital) × capital invested: the profit left after paying for the money used. Today's cost of capital is applied to every year, since a past one cannot be rebuilt honestly.
Return on equity
—
Return on assets
16.4%
Asset turnover
0.59×
Research & development
1.9% of revenue
Is the profit cash, and where does the cash go?
Net income is an accounting opinion; free cash flow is what was left in the bank after investing. Stock-based pay does not leave the bank — shareholders pay it through dilution — so it is shown taken off as well.
Net incomeFree cash flowAfter stock-based pay
05.0B10.0B15.0B
2016Net income 7.0BFree cash flow 6.9B
2017Net income 6.0BFree cash flow 7.4B
2018Net income 7.9BFree cash flow 8.0B
2019Net income 7.2BFree cash flow 9.2B
2020Net income 8.1BFree cash flow 9.2B
2021Net income 9.1BFree cash flow 11.2B
2022Net income 9.0BFree cash flow 9.7B
2023Net income 7.8BFree cash flow 7.9B
2024Net income 7.1BFree cash flow 10.8B
2025Net income 11.3BFree cash flow 10.7B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2016–2025
102.8B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 11%11.8B
Acquisitions 16%16.1B
Dividends 72%74.5B
Share buybacks 1%984.0M
More than it generated: funded with cash or new debt -1%-532.0M
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$0.00$2.00$4.00$6.00$8.00
2016Earnings per share $4.49Free cash flow per share $4.45Dividend per share $4.11
2017Earnings per share $3.89Free cash flow per share $4.74Dividend per share $4.20
2018Earnings per share $5.09Free cash flow per share $5.17Dividend per share $4.43
2019Earnings per share $4.62Free cash flow per share $5.94Dividend per share $4.60
2020Earnings per share $5.17Free cash flow per share $5.91Dividend per share $4.73
2021Earnings per share $5.84Free cash flow per share $7.20Dividend per share $4.86
2022Earnings per share $5.83Free cash flow per share $6.27Dividend per share $5.03
2023Earnings per share $5.03Free cash flow per share $5.08Dividend per share $5.13
2024Earnings per share $4.54Free cash flow per share $6.92Dividend per share $5.27
2025Earnings per share $7.28Free cash flow per share $6.84Dividend per share $5.54
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
1.6B1.6B1.6B1.6B1.6B1.6B
2016Diluted shares 1.6B
2017Diluted shares 1.6B
2018Diluted shares 1.6B
2019Diluted shares 1.6B
2020Diluted shares 1.6B
2021Diluted shares 1.6B
2022Diluted shares 1.6B
2023Diluted shares 1.6B
2024Diluted shares 1.6B
2025Diluted shares 1.6B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
How strong is the balance sheet?
Debt is not bad in itself; debt the business cannot service in a bad year is. Net debt is debt minus cash, and below zero the company holds more cash than it owes.
Net debt
-10.0B-5.0B05.0B
2016Net debt -3.6B
2017Net debt -7.9B
2018Net debt -5.9B
2019Net debt -6.5B
2020Net debt -7.0B
2021Net debt -4.3B
2022Net debt 2.4B
2023Net debt -1.1B
2024Net debt -4.1B
2025Net debt -4.7B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
-0.3×
Interest coverage
9× operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
0.96 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
234 days collects in 41d, stock 313d, pays in 120d
Three classic screens of the accounts
Each asks a different question of the same statements — is it improving, does it look like a company heading for distress, do the accounts resemble ones that were manipulated. None is a verdict; each shows what moves it.
Piotroski F-score
Is the business improving? Nine yes-or-no tests, this year against last.
6of 9 tests passed
✓ProfitableReturn on assets above zeropassed
✓Cash from operationsOperating cash flow above zeropassed
✓Profitability improvedReturn on assets higher than a year beforepassed
✓Profit backed by cashOperating cash flow above net income (low accruals)passed
✕Less long-term debtLong-term debt as a share of assets fellfailed
✓More liquidCurrent ratio higher than a year beforepassed
✕No new sharesShare count did not growfailed
✓Better gross marginGross margin higher than a year beforepassed
✕Sells more per assetAsset turnover higher than a year beforefailed
Where it misleads: it measures change, not level. An excellent business that stood still for a year scores low; a poor one recovering from a disaster scores high.
Altman Z''-score
Does the balance sheet look like those of companies that went bankrupt?
2.88safe zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets -0.02 × 6.56-0.10
Retained earnings ÷ assets 0.51 × 3.26+1.67
Operating income ÷ assets 0.22 × 6.72+1.45
Equity ÷ liabilities -0.13 × 1.05-0.14
Where it misleads: buybacks. A company that returns so much cash that its equity turns small or negative sinks the last two ratios without being anywhere near bankruptcy. Banks and insurers do not fit the model at all.
Beneish M-score
Do the accounts resemble those of companies that manipulated their earnings?
The accounts lack too many of the lines it needs.
Where the statements disagree
Cross-checks between the income statement, the balance sheet and the cash flow for the latest year, each with the benign reading and the worrying one.
None of the six cross-checks fires for the latest year: receivables and inventory move with revenue, profit turns into cash, investment keeps up with depreciation, the tax rate is ordinary and debt is moderate.
What is it worth, under which assumptions?
A company is worth the cash it will generate, brought back to today. This model projects revenue with growth that fades over the years, applies a free cash flow margin, and discounts the result at the cost of capital. Every assumption says where it came from, and all of them can be changed.
Value per share, with these assumptions$107.17discounted at 10.6% a year · 49% of it from after year 10
Type a share price on the left to ask the reverse questions: what growth, what margin or what discount rate that price implies.
What the value implies, in the usual multiples
At this model's value
Price ÷ earnings
14.7×
Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA
9.6×
Enterprise value ÷ revenue
4.0×
Free cash flow yield
6.4%
From cash flows to a value per share
10 years of cash flow, today83.5B
Everything after, today78.7B
The whole business162.3B
Plus net cash4.7B
What belongs to shareholders167.0B
Divided among 1.6B shares: <strong>$107.17</strong> each.
The projection next to its history
Reported free cash flow after stock pay, then the model's. A projection that looks nothing like the past needs a reason.
ReportedProjected
05.0B10.0B15.0B20.0B
2016Reported 6.9B
2017Reported 7.4B
2018Reported 8.0B
2019Reported 9.2B
2020Reported 9.2B
2021Reported 11.2B
2022Reported 9.7B
2023Reported 7.9B
2024Reported 10.8B
2025Reported 10.7B
2026Projected 11.4B
2027Projected 12.2B
2028Projected 12.9B
2029Projected 13.6B
2030Projected 14.3B
2031Projected 14.9B
2032Projected 15.5B
2033Projected 16.1B
2034Projected 16.6B
2035Projected 17.0B
2016201820202022202420262028203020322034
Year by year
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
Revenue
43.5B
46.3B
49.1B
51.8B
54.4B
56.8B
59.1B
61.2B
63.0B
64.6B
Growth
7.0%
6.5%
6.0%
5.5%
5.0%
4.5%
4.0%
3.5%
3.0%
2.5%
Cash margin
26.3%
26.3%
26.3%
26.3%
26.3%
26.3%
26.3%
26.3%
26.3%
26.3%
Free cash flow
11.4B
12.2B
12.9B
13.6B
14.3B
14.9B
15.5B
16.1B
16.6B
17.0B
Worth today
10.3B
10.0B
9.5B
9.1B
8.6B
8.2B
7.7B
7.2B
6.7B
6.2B
If the least-known inputs move
Value per share as two inputs change at a time. Neighbouring cells that differ a lot are the conclusion: the value depends on numbers nobody knows to a point.
The discount rate and growth forever
discount ↓ · forever →
1.5%
2.0%
2.5%
3.0%
3.5%
9.6%
111
116
122
130
138
10.1%
104
109
114
120
128
10.6%
98
102
107
112
119
11.1%
93
97
101
106
111
11.6%
88
92
95
99
104
Year-one growth and the final margin
margin ↓ · growth →
3.0%
5.0%
7.0%
9.0%
11.0%
21.0%
79
85
92
99
106
23.6%
85
92
99
107
116
26.3%
92
99
107
116
125
28.9%
98
106
115
124
134
31.5%
105
113
123
133
144
All the inputs moving at once
5,000 valuations, each with growth, final margin, discount rate and growth forever drawn at random around the values on the left (spreads of 3.0%, 3.9%, 1.0% and 0.5%). Not a probability — the spreads are assumptions too — but an honest picture of how wide the answer is.
10th percentile$83.28
Median$107.45
90th percentile$141.89
$100.00$150.00
Half of the simulations land between <b>$93.60</b> and <b>$123.15</b>; one in ten below $83.28, one in ten above $141.89.
Does the long run make sense?
8.0×The terminal value prices the business in year 10 at 8.0 times that year's EBITDA.
23%To grow 2.5% forever while reinvesting 11% of its after-tax operating profit, the business must earn 23% on the new capital — it has earned -141% on average over the last five years.
49%of the value comes from after year 10. The more of it, the more the answer depends on the part nobody can see.
What lenders charge, after the tax saving on interest: 13.18% × (1 − 19.7%) = <strong>10.58%</strong>.
Weighted by how much of each the company uses (book value (no price given)): <strong>10.58%</strong>, the rate every future cash flow is discounted at.
What it has filed lately
The last twelve months at the SEC, most important first: annual and quarterly reports, events, large holders and insiders.
Accounts from the company's own SEC filings; lines some companies do not report are shown as a dash rather than estimated. The risk-free rate is the 10-year US Treasury yield. A DCF is a way of making assumptions explicit, not a forecast: it states what the company would be worth if the assumptions held. The scores are screens that point where to look, not verdicts. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell.