Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

- JUUL investment (vaping industry)
- CRON investment (cannabis industry)
- Partnership with Phillip Morris on heat not burn products
- High free cash flow

Evil cigarette maker Altria has drifted down to a pretty attractive 8X earnings with a 7% dividend yield.

Altria is uber profitable and has been historically a great capital allocator. That notion was called into question when Altria paid 40x sales for 35% of Juul and the stock sold off about 20%. This acquisition while pricey, this was not worth a 20% drop in the stock. The nice thing about being a public investor here is that I can take advantage of this overreaction and get more value from the drop in share price that was maybe destroyed by the acquisition.

As a non-smoker and non-vaper I am unsure where the vape market is headed. Juul is now hands down the richest in the industry and has a reconcilable brand, although I am not sure it is a strong brand. Who knows if it will work out. I just know I basically just got that exposure for free.

Altria has managed decling sales for decades and yet shareholders have done incredibly well. Depending of how exactly you measure it, Altria is the best preforming stock of all time. Morgan Housel told me his first Fool article was about Altria. He talked about part of the reason people has done well with this stock is because it has stayed pretty cheap because people hate cigarette companies and you have gotten a great dividend for a cheap share price along the way for years.

This is something I bought in my IRA for an avg price of $45/share, clicked reinvest dividends and will likely let it ride for years.

As a Richmonder (where Altria is headquartered) I have had a lot of time to think about where Altria fits into my moral philosophy. That's a long conversation, ill just say I think when you consider stakeholder theory and liberalism, im okay with it.