Six Tobacco Stocks : Smokin' or Going Up in Smoke?

Here is some interesting trivia about cigarettes and tobacco:

The Maya and the Aztecs were first smokers of cigarettes in Central America during the ninth century, using reeds stuffed with tobacco.

During the mid-1800's in the Ottoman Empire, smokers rolled tobacco in newspaper.

The title character Carmen in the opera of the same name was a worker in a cigarette factory in the 1830s in Seville.

The average cigarette has over one hundred ingredients.

The minimum age to buy cigarettes is 19 in Alabama, Alaska, New Jersey, Utah, several counties in New York, and most of Canada.

More than 1/6 of the world's total population smoke.

John Rolfe was the the first person to successfully raise tobacco for commercial use at Jamestown in 1609.

Tobacco was used as currency in Virginia during the 1600's.

Tobacco can be used as a treatment for bee stings.

Below are some tobacco stocks for you to review: Are they smokin' or are they going up in smoke?

Vector Group Ltd. (VGR), which trades on the New York Stock Exchange, is based in Miami Florida. Its brands include Liggett Select, Eve, Jade, Pyramid and Quest. The stock has a 7.2% yield, a P/E of 17.67, and a price earnings to growth ratio of 1.92.

Reynolds American Inc. (RAI), which trades on the NYSE, is based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It makes Camel, Winston, Kool, Salem, Doral, More, and Now. The stock has a P/E of 16, a PEG of 2.41, and a yield of 5.5%.

Altria Group Inc. (MO), is based in New York City, and has various popular brands including Marlboro, Basic, Chesterfield, Lark, L&M, Parliament and Virginia Slims. Its P/E is 13.7, the PEG is 2.33, and the yield is 4.3%.

British American Tobacco plc (BTI), which is based in London, markets Kent, Dunhill, Lucky Strike, Pall Mall, Vogue, Viceroy, Rothmans, Kool, Benson & Hedges, State Express 555, Peter Stuyvesant, and John Player Gold Leaf. It has a P/E of 18.2, and a yield of 2.10%.

Carolina Group (CG), which is based in New York, has the Kent, True, Maverick, and Old Gold brands through its Lorillard subsidiary. The stock has a P/E of 17.5, a PEG of 2.08, and a 2.2% yield.

Star Scientific Inc. (STSI), which trades on NASDAQ, is based in Chester, Virginia. It makes and sells discount cigarettes, including Mainstreet, Sport, and G-Smoke, along with smokeless tobacco products. Its earnings have been negative. This is a very low cap stock, and should be considered to be very speculative.

Disclosure: The author does not currently own any of the above stocks.

Comments

[Norman Lepo...:]

If Altria's sum of the parts is $85.00 why doesn't the stock move? Cause it isn't worth any more than $71.00, if that. It is not what it used to be.

2007 Oct 18 10:24 AM

[whisperonth...:]

VGR - Still smokin'

2008 Mar 01 08:31 AM

[INvestor124:]

I hope that Star scientific goes up, because i just bought a 100 shares of it! Ha.

2008 Sep 29 04:29 PM