# How Philip Morris International (PM) compares with the whole market and its popular alternatives

> Source: EasyCompare research, https://easycompare.io/research/pm
> Data as of October 20, 2026. Total returns include reinvested dividends. Past performance does not predict future results; nothing here is investment advice.

Built by QuantCommons' quantitative engine, this page is about relative opportunity, not data on PM alone. It places PM (Philip Morris International Inc.) against 9 popular alternatives, its neighboring categories and the entire market of over 10,000 U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs, and surfaces what has done better on consistent outperformance, return for the risk taken, behavior in real market crashes and diversification. The result is a clearer view of where PM stands in the market, and of the alternatives worth a closer look.

Period covered: PM's full trading record, from March 2008 through September 2026. The crash tests reach back to 2000 using older funds and the S&P 500. All returns include reinvested dividends. Data as of October 20, 2026.

## Key findings

- **Right now:** PM has run far ahead of the market, rising 29.0% over the past 6 months against 9.1% for the S&P 500 and 11.2% for the Nasdaq 100. After a 20.6% loss from June 2025 to October 2025, PM has bounced 22.5% off the low.
- **Stock or market?:** PM rose 4.6% over the past 3 months, in line with the tobacco ETF XLP (State Street Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF), which rose 4.1%. The S&P 500 rose 3.9%. Last month cut against the tape: PM rose 7.5% while the S&P 500 fell 0.6%.
- **Past 1 to 3 years:** Over the past year, PM rose 30.9% against 15.8% for the S&P 500 and 17.9% for the Nasdaq 100. The same gap shows up over 3 years (144% against 89.3%). The last two calendar years both went the same way: PM rose 38.0% in 2025, against 15.8% for the S&P 500 and 17.9% for the Nasdaq 100.
- **Long term:** PM turned $10,000 into $34,200 over the past decade, against $42,100 in the S&P 500. Even so, the past 5 years have been the better stretch: PM rose 159% against 81.7% for the S&P 500, after trailing over the decade.
- **In a crash:** PM fell less than the S&P 500 in four of five sell-offs, but the late-2018 sell-off broke the pattern: it fell 26.1%, more than the S&P 500's 19.3%.
- **Diversification:** Against the S&P 500, PM has a correlation of 0.23 over 5 years, less closely than 82% of stocks worth at least $300 million. Next to an index fund it is a real diversifier. Over 10 years PM kept more of the market's gains than of its losses: 70% of the S&P 500's gains in rising months and 60% of its losses in falling ones, with a beta of 0.58.
- **Better options:** Few investments have done better on both counts: only two of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than PM with less volatility over the past 5 years, among them MPLX and DXJ (WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund).

## How much would $10,000 in PM have grown?

This chart tracks a hypothetical $10,000 investment in PM over the past 18 years, with dividends reinvested, alongside the same amount in the S&P 500, investments that ended ahead of PM over the same span and PM's popular alternatives, among those that traded for the entire period.

- $10,000 invested in PM at the end of September 2008 would have grown to $90,824 by September 2026, about the same as the $91,104 it would have become in SPY, an S&P 500 fund.
- Five of the eight other investments on the chart ended ahead of PM, and NVDA finished highest, at $9,364,421.

## PM at a glance

This section summarizes the key facts about the stock, its returns over periods from one to ten years and the risk it has carried, with dividends reinvested throughout.

- PM's deepest decline since it began trading in 2008 was 42.9%, from June 2017 to March 2020. It took 15 months from the low to climb back to its old high.
- Over 17 full calendar years, PM's best was 2011, when it returned 39.8%, and its worst was 2018, when it lost 33.3%. It lost money in three of those years.
- PM is 2.8% below its all-time high.

- Type: Stock, Consumer Staples (Tobacco)
- Trading since: March 17, 2008
- Market value: $312B
- Volatility (5 years): 23.4%; Sharpe ratio: 0.94
- Worst decline ever: −42.9%, from June 19, 2017 to March 23, 2020; back at its high by June 14, 2021

| Period | PM total return |
| --- | --- |
| 1 month | +7.5% |
| 3 months | +4.6% |
| 6 months | +29.0% |
| year to date | +27.9% |
| 1 year | +30.9% |
| 3 years | +144% |
| 5 years | +159% |
| 10 years | +242% |

## PM against the whole market

Where PM ranks among every stock and fund, and what across the market has done better.

### How does PM rank among all stocks?

This section ranks PM on return, volatility, risk-adjusted return and worst decline against every stock worth at least $300 million with enough history.

- On return for the risk taken (the Sharpe ratio), PM ranks in the top 5% of the 2,893 stocks worth at least $300 million.

| Measure | PM | Rank |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1-year return | +30.9% | 950 of 3,287 (top 29%) |
| 3-year return | +144% | 634 of 3,017 (top 22%) |
| 5-year return | +159% | 417 of 2,893 (top 15%) |
| 10-year return | +242% | 731 of 2,202 (top 34%) |
| Volatility, 5 years | 23.4% | 227 of 2,893 (top 8%) |
| Sharpe ratio, 5 years | 0.94 | 142 of 2,893 (top 5%) |
| Worst decline, past 10 years | −42.9% | 223 of 2,187 (top 11%) |

### What has beaten PM on both return and risk?

Each dot is an investment, placed by how much it earned a year over the past 5 years (higher is better) and how much its price swung, its volatility (further left is calmer).

- One stock and one ETF worth at least $500 million sit in the green region: each earned more than PM over the past 5 years with smaller price swings. That is fewer than 1% of the 3,633 screened. Few investments beat it on both counts.
- Among those with at least half PM's swings, DXJ has the best return for its risk: 26.6% a year at 19.1% volatility, 19% less than PM's 23.4%, and a Sharpe ratio (return above cash per unit of volatility) of 1.34 against 0.94 for PM.

### Is there a better investment than PM?

The table below lists investments that beat PM over the past 5 years on at least one of these measures: a higher annual return with lower volatility, a higher annual return at similar volatility, a similar return with lower volatility, a higher Sharpe ratio with a smaller worst decline, a higher total return in most periods from 3 months to 10 years, or smaller losses in recent market crashes.

- Few investments have done better on both counts: only two of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than PM with less volatility over the past 5 years, among them MPLX and DXJ.

The 2 strongest of 2 investments that beat PM over the past 5 years, out of 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million.

| Investment | Group | Annual return (5 years) | Volatility | Sharpe | Worst decline (10 years) | 10Y return | Correlation with PM | Better on |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| PM: Philip Morris International Inc. (this page) |  | +21.0% | 23.4% | 0.94 | −42.9% | +242% |  |  |
| [MPLX](https://easycompare.io/research/mplx): MPLX Lp | Oil & Gas Midstream | +23.5% | 18.8% | 1.22 | −75.2% | +350% | 0.34 | Higher return, lower volatility |
| DXJ: WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund | International Equity | +26.6% | 19.1% | 1.34 | −39.1% | +428% | 0.16 | Higher return, lower volatility |

## PM against its popular alternatives

The investments people most often weigh against PM, compared period by period and year by year.

### How do PM's risk and return compare with its alternatives?

This map plots each investment's annual return over the past 5 years against its volatility, the size of its typical price swings.

- None of the nine popular alternatives earned more than PM over the past 5 years with smaller price swings, so every higher return on the map came with a bumpier ride.
- Five of the nine popular alternatives earned less than PM over the past 5 years while swinging more, the weaker corner of the map.
- Over the past 5 years, PM returned 21.0% a year, more than the S&P 500's 12.7%, with higher volatility (23.4% against 17.1%).

### Has PM consistently beaten its popular alternatives?

This section compares PM with the investments people most often weigh against it, checking each one over eight periods from one month to ten years.

- None of the nine popular alternatives outperformed PM in at least 3 of 5 short-term and 2 of 3 long-term timeframes. The closest was TPB.

| Investment | 1Y return | 3Y return | 5Y return | 10Y return | Periods ahead of PM | Verdict | Sharpe |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| PM: Philip Morris International Inc. (this page) | +30.9% | +144% | +159% | +242% |  |  | 0.94 |
| TPB: Turning Point Brands, Inc. | −26.2% | +206% | +43.2% | +441% | 0/5 short-term, 2/3 long-term |  | 0.39 |
| [KO](https://easycompare.io/research/ko): The Coca-Cola Company | +40.2% | +86.8% | +98.2% | +204% | 3/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.91 |
| [MO](https://easycompare.io/research/mo): Altria Group, Inc. | +23.7% | +118% | +126% | +140% | 2/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.88 |
| [DEO](https://easycompare.io/research/deo): Diageo plc | −2.4% | −32.5% | −46.8% | +11.7% | 2/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | -0.37 |
| [BUD](https://easycompare.io/research/bud): Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV | +36.7% | +66.6% | +58.7% | −20.0% | 2/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.50 |
| STZ: Constellation Brands, Inc. | −3.3% | −38.5% | −33.2% | −6.6% | 1/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | -0.19 |
| [BTI](https://easycompare.io/research/bti): British American Tobacco p.l.c. | +22.5% | +148% | +136% | +98.2% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.90 |
| [PEP](https://easycompare.io/research/pep): PepsiCo, Inc. | −9.2% | −6.7% | −2.3% | +72.6% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.07 |
| UVV: Universal Corporation | −20.6% | +4.0% | +10.5% | +25.6% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.21 |

### How did PM do year by year?

This table shows each investment's total return in every full calendar year since 2009, along with where PM ranked among its popular alternatives each year.

- Ranked against its popular alternatives each year, PM finished in the top quarter in six of 17 years and in the bottom quarter in one. In 2025, it ranked 3 of 10.
- PM finished ahead of the S&P 500 in seven of its 17 full calendar years, and ahead of it in each of the last two.
- Among its popular alternatives, TPB came out ahead of PM most often, in six of the nine years both traded.

| Year | PM | SPY |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2025 | +38.0% | +17.7% |
| 2024 | +34.3% | +24.9% |
| 2023 | −1.8% | +26.2% |
| 2022 | +12.3% | −18.2% |
| 2021 | +20.8% | +28.7% |
| 2020 | +3.7% | +18.3% |
| 2019 | +35.0% | +31.2% |
| 2018 | −33.3% | −4.6% |
| 2017 | +19.9% | +21.7% |
| 2016 | +8.6% | +12.0% |

## Risk and diversification

How PM has fallen, how it held up in crashes beside the S&P 500 and its popular alternatives, and what moves independently of it.

### What were PM's worst declines?

A drawdown is the decline from a peak to the lowest point before a new high.

- In four of PM's five worst declines, the S&P 500 held up better over the same dates.
- Not every decline was the market's doing: PM fell 42.9% from June 2017 to March 2020, while the S&P 500 slipped only 3.9%.
- The longest climb back to a previous high took 20 months, after PM fell 22.8% from February to September 2022.

| Decline | Peak | Low | Back at the high | SPY over the same dates | Market event |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| −42.9% | June 19, 2017 | March 23, 2020 | June 14, 2021 | −3.9% | late-2018 sell-off |
| −40.8% | August 12, 2008 | March 3, 2009 | March 19, 2010 | −45.1% | 2008 financial crisis |
| −22.8% | February 17, 2022 | September 30, 2022 | May 9, 2024 | −17.3% | 2022 bear market |
| −20.6% | June 23, 2025 | October 31, 2025 | February 4, 2026 | +14.0% |  |
| −19.3% | April 12, 2013 | February 3, 2014 | October 15, 2015 | +11.4% |  |

### How did PM do in stock market crashes?

This section measures how far PM, the S&P 500 and each alternative fell from peak to trough during every major market crash since 2000.

- PM fell less than the S&P 500 in six of the eight crashes it has traded through. The clearest case was the 2011 euro debt crisis, when PM fell 13.6% and the S&P 500 fell 17.9%.
- Among its popular alternatives, KO held up best, falling less than PM in six of the eight crashes they both traded through.
- PM began trading after the 2008 financial crisis, but seven of its popular alternatives lived through it. The mildest fall among them was MO's 38.6%, against 55.2% for the S&P 500.

| Crash | Dates | PM fall | SPY fall |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Dot-com bust | March 10, 2000 to October 9, 2002 | not trading | −47.5% |
| Global financial crisis | October 9, 2007 to March 9, 2009 | not trading | −55.2% |
| Flash crash | May 6, 2010 to May 7, 2010 | −1.2% | −1.5% |
| Euro debt crisis | July 22, 2011 to October 3, 2011 | −13.6% | −17.9% |
| China devaluation & oil rout | August 10, 2015 to February 11, 2016 | −10.0% | −12.8% |
| Volmageddon | February 2, 2018 to February 9, 2018 | −4.6% | −6.5% |
| Q4 2018 selloff | September 21, 2018 to December 24, 2018 | −26.1% | −19.3% |
| COVID crash | February 19, 2020 to March 23, 2020 | −31.9% | −33.7% |
| 2022 bear market | January 4, 2022 to October 12, 2022 | −22.8% | −24.5% |
| SVB / regional bank stress | March 8, 2023 to March 13, 2023 | −2.4% | −3.4% |

### How closely does PM move with the S&P 500?

Upside capture measures how much of the S&P 500's gains an investment kept in the months the market rose, and downside capture how much of its losses it took in the months the market fell.

- Over the past 10 years, PM captured 70% of the S&P 500's gains in rising months and 60% of its losses in falling months, with a beta of 0.58. That is a defensive profile: it gave up some of the market's upside in exchange for smaller losses.
- Only KO had a higher capture ratio (upside capture divided by downside capture) than PM's 1.17, out of nine popular alternatives with the same record.
- KO took just 44% of the S&P 500's losses, against 60% for PM, while still keeping 57% of its gains.

Measured over the past 10 years of monthly returns against SPY.

| Investment | Upside capture | Downside capture | Beta |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| PM: Philip Morris International Inc. (this page) | 70.0% | 60.0% | 0.58 |
| TPB: Turning Point Brands, Inc. | 102% | 89.0% | 0.78 |
| [KO](https://easycompare.io/research/ko): The Coca-Cola Company | 57.0% | 44.0% | 0.47 |
| [MO](https://easycompare.io/research/mo): Altria Group, Inc. | 51.0% | 51.0% | 0.53 |
| [DEO](https://easycompare.io/research/deo): Diageo plc | 46.0% | 94.0% | 0.61 |
| [BUD](https://easycompare.io/research/bud): Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV | 51.0% | 125% | 1.04 |
| STZ: Constellation Brands, Inc. | 48.0% | 111% | 0.79 |
| [BTI](https://easycompare.io/research/bti): British American Tobacco p.l.c. | 51.0% | 67.0% | 0.55 |
| [PEP](https://easycompare.io/research/pep): PepsiCo, Inc. | 48.0% | 65.0% | 0.48 |
| UVV: Universal Corporation | 51.0% | 86.0% | 0.66 |

### What diversifies PM?

Correlation measures how closely two investments move together, on a scale from 1 (in lockstep) through 0 (unrelated) to -1 (in opposite directions).

- Moving a fifth of the money in PM into DXJ would have cut the portfolio's volatility by 17% over the past 5 years and raised its annual return (+20.2% for PM alone, +22.1% for the mix).
- Among large ETFs, DXJ, EMLP and SMH have moved largely independently of PM over the past 5 years, with correlations of 0.43 or lower, and each still earned a positive 5-year return.
- CLS made money in two of the three calendar years in which PM lost money.

| Investment | Correlation with PM | 5Y return | Volatility | Sharpe | Rose in PM's 3 down years |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| DXJ: WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund | 0.16 | +225% | 19.1% | 1.34 | 2 of 3 |
| EMLP: First Trust North American Energy Infrastructure Fund | 0.43 | +101% | 14.5% | 1.04 | 2 of 3 |
| [SMH](https://easycompare.io/research/smh): VanEck Semiconductor ETF | -0.01 | +323% | 36.9% | 0.97 | 2 of 3 |
| DBEF: Xtrackers MSCI EAFE Hedged Equity ETF | 0.40 | +85.0% | 13.8% | 0.96 | 2 of 3 |
| [GLD](https://easycompare.io/research/gld): SPDR Gold Shares | 0.30 | +126% | 18.9% | 0.96 | 1 of 3 |
| SPMO: Invesco S&P 500 Momentum ETF | 0.20 | +136% | 20.8% | 0.93 | 1 of 3 |
| [XLE](https://easycompare.io/research/xle): State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF | 0.34 | +177% | 25.5% | 0.93 | 0 of 3 |
| FDVV: Fidelity High Dividend ETF | 0.46 | +85.9% | 14.6% | 0.92 | 1 of 3 |

## Common questions

### What was PM's worst drawdown?

PM's deepest decline since it began trading in 2008 was 42.9%, from June 2017 to March 2020. It took 15 months from the low to climb back to its old high. Because PM launched in March 2008, that record does not include the dot-com bust.

### What were PM's best and worst years?

Over 17 full calendar years, PM's best year was 2011, when it returned 39.8%. Its worst was 2018, with a return of -33.3%.

### Is there a better investment than PM?

Few investments have done better on both counts: only two of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than PM with less volatility over the past 5 years, among them MPLX and DXJ.

### Is PM more volatile than the S&P 500?

Yes. PM's volatility over the past 5 years was 23.4%, 1.4 times the S&P 500's 17.1%. Volatility measures how widely returns swing around their average: in roughly two years out of three, PM's return lands within 23.4% of its average, either way. The higher it is, the rougher the ride and the harder it is to hold through a slump.

### What is PM's Sharpe ratio?

PM's Sharpe ratio over the past 5 years was 0.94, against 0.79 for the S&P 500, so PM earned more for each unit of risk than an index fund did. The Sharpe ratio is the return earned above cash for each unit of volatility: two investments with the same return are not equal if one got there with far bigger swings.

### How correlated is PM with the S&P 500?

Over the past 5 years, PM's monthly returns had a correlation of 0.23 with the S&P 500. Correlation runs from 1 (moving in lockstep) through 0 (unrelated) to −1 (moving in opposite directions). They are only loosely linked, which makes it a real diversifier next to an index fund. In the table, the correlation column measures each option against PM instead: the lower it is, the more that option would diversify a PM holding.

### What are the best alternatives to PM?

None of the nine popular alternatives we compared outperformed PM in at least 3 of 5 short-term and 2 of 3 long-term timeframes, which says more about PM's strength than about its alternatives.

### Did PM outperform the S&P 500?

PM finished ahead of the S&P 500 (SPY) in seven of 17 full calendar years. In 2025, it returned +38.0%, against +17.7% for the index.

### How did PM do in stock market crashes?

PM fell less than the S&P 500 (SPY) in six of the eight major crashes it has traded through, and further in one. The clearest case was the 2011 euro debt crisis, when PM fell 13.6% and the S&P 500 fell 17.9%.

### What diversifies PM?

These had a low correlation with PM over the past 5 years and still earned a positive 5-year return: among large ETFs, DXJ (correlation 0.16), EMLP (correlation 0.43) and SMH (correlation -0.01); among large stocks, CAH (correlation 0.25), CLS (correlation -0.05) and FIX (correlation -0.05). A correlation near zero means the two have moved largely independently.

## More research

- [Coca-Cola (KO) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/ko)
- [Altria Group (MO) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/mo)
- [Diageo (DEO) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/deo)
- [Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (BUD) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/bud)
- [British American Tobacco p.l.c. (BTI) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/bti)
- [PepsiCo (PEP) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/pep)
- [Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/schd)
- [NVIDIA (NVDA) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/nvda)
- [Apple (AAPL) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/aapl)
- [Alphabet (GOOG) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/goog)
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## Explore further

- Full page with charts: https://easycompare.io/research/pm
- All research pages: https://easycompare.io/llms.txt
- Compare the entire market against PM live: https://betterthanspy.com/?b=PM&utm_source=easycompare&utm_medium=research