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Non-Tech : Philip Morris - A Stock For Wealth Or Poverty (MO) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Theo Karantsalis who wrote (4035)	6/25/1999 3:18:00 AM
From: Racso	Respond to of 6439

To: Theo Karantsalis who wrote (4035)	6/25/1999 3:22:00 AM
From: Racso	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6439

Philip Morris to Give Investors First Close-up Look in 4 Years Philip Morris to Give Investors First Close-up Look in 4 Years New York, June 24 (Bloomberg) -- Philip Morris Cos., the world's largest tobacco company, on Monday will give investors their first close-up glimpse at its operations and outlook in more than four years, after being quieted by smoking-related lawsuits and settlement talks. Chairman Geoffrey Bible may announce a marketing campaign or buyback at the company's conference, analysts and investors said. It will be at the Grand Hyatt in New York, where the maker of Marlboro cigarettes, Kraft cheese and Miller beer last brought together the heads of all of its businesses to address investors in March 1995. The time spanning the two meetings has been marked by a $206 billion legal agreement between the tobacco industry and 46 states, as well as hundreds of lawsuits. Those led the company to remain mostly silent about basic subjects such as earnings targets and cash flow projections that other companies address on a regular basis. ''Investors hate a lack of clarity from a company, and we've been in the dark for years,'' said Timothy Ghriskey, senior portfolio manager at Dreyfus Corp., which held about 8 million Philip Morris shares as of March. While Monday's conference is the first big one sponsored by Philip Morris in recent years, the company said it has participated in conferences put on by others such as brokerage firms or discussed its business with individual investors. New York-based Philip Morris's shares have doubled since the 1995 meeting, while the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index almost tripled. The stock today fell 1 9/16 to 40 3/4. Deal With Image Morris could unveil a public relations campaign aimed at tempering the public's anger against the company and tobacco industry that led jurors to hand down two record awards, said analyst David Adelman at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. ''They've got to take the anger away the public may feel when they walk into the jury box by letting them know that the industry is paying hundreds of billions of dollars over the next 25 years,'' Adelman said. ''Then jurors won't feel that they need to send the company a message'' by awarding large damages. Philip Morris may introduce print ads and other marketing in ''very anti-tobacco areas of the country,'' he said, pointing primarily to the West Coast, where both awards were levied. Part of the advertising could also relate ''all the good things about the company,'' in that it's the nation's single largest tax payer, a big charitable contributor and employer of many, said Adelman, who rates the shares ''outperform.'' ''Philip Morris has to address the liability issue,'' said Stephen Yacktman of Yacktman Asset Management, which owned about 1.6 million shares as of December. ''But I don't know what they could disclose to make people think that all of a sudden the pending litigation is less of a threat than it was before.'' Spinoffs? Not Likely Any kind of indication from Philip Morris that it plans to spin off its Kraft food unit would make other investors happy -- though they're not counting on it. ''I'd like to see some more innovative ways to deal with the overhang on the stock caused by the tobacco litigation,'' said David Dreman of Dreman Value Management, which held about 13 million Philip Morris shares as of March. He pointed to RJR Nabisco Holding Corp.'s recent split of its domestic tobacco unit from its food business. He called that ''very successful'' in removing the threat of smoking-related legal judgments against shares in Nabisco, the cookie and cracker maker. He estimates Philip Morris's Kraft unit plus its international tobacco operations are worth about $60 to $70 a share put together. Spinning off the U.S. cigarette business would help the market correctly value those assets, he said. Yet, the company has repeatedly said that nothing of that kind is in the works, and Dreman said he doesn't think it's likely that'll change on Monday. A stock buyback announcement is more probable, he said. Others, like Dreyfus's Ghriskey, are simply looking for a clearer picture of the company's financial status, something he said hasn't been provided in its annual shareholder meetings or industry-led conferences. ''I'm looking for a lot of disclosure about how the business is going and I expect a frank and upbeat assessment,'' he said.