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• Philip Morris International Rises in Initial Trading (Update1) 

Philip Morris International Inc., spun off by Altria Group Inc. last week, rose as much as 7.1 percent on its first day of New York trading after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Stifel Nicolaus & Co. urged investors to buy the stock.

The overseas company will focus on selling more Marlboro cigarettes in emerging markets now that it's separate from Altria, which aims to sell more snuff to mute falling U.S. cigarette demand, Michael Branca, a Lehman analyst in New York, wrote today in notes to investors. He rated the overseas company as ``overweight'' and Altria as ``equal weight.''

The March 28 spinoff of Philip Morris International gave investors shares in the world's largest publicly traded cigarette company, which accounted for two-thirds of its parent's profit. The move leaves Altria with a leading share of U.S. cigarette sales and a plan to expand its Marlboro brand into smokeless tobacco.

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