Risk down, stocks up

Philip Morris International (PMI) stock has surged 23.3 percent in the past three months and nearly 14.3 percent on a year-on-year basis, according to Zacks Equity Research.

Zacks credits PMI’s investments in smokeless products and heat-not-burn devices, such as iQOS, which are believed to present a lower risk to health than combustible cigarettes do.

Zacks also noted that PMI’s long-term earnings growth is 10.8 percent with a low “beta score” of 0.95, which implies that the share price fluctuates little and provides stability amid a volatile market.

As more people shift away from traditional tobacco products, there is rising competition among tobacco companies to capture market share by providing less-harmful and best-quality tobacco products.