You know this company more by the familiar brand names of its product lines – Kraft Foods and Philip Morris cigarettes.  Philip Morris has long been a money maker for investors, and despite tremendous publicity surrounding cigarette smoking (and public and private sector bans on same), the holding company (Altria) still ranks high on some institutional investors’ selection list for large-cap equities.

On the other hand – there is significant opposition to cigarette manufacture in many sectors of the American society.  The company is screened out (negative screening) of many socially responsible indexes or selection lists and even mainstream investors may veer away from Altria stock holdings.

But – there are analysts who have argued that Altria is a “pure play” now, with everything about cigarette manufacture / marketing “known” (we can quantify the legal risk and factor that into the investment decision), so the company is far from a pariah in the canyons of downtown New York City (among Wall Street decision makers).

On the other hand – We have wonderful Main Street vs. Wall Street set-up here; there are many social- and faith-based investors who do own shares and who regularly bring proxy resolutions to the voting body in annual contests. 

Almost everyone can agree that Kraft Foods is a much easier operating unit to love – think of Post’s Cereals, Breakstone’s Cottage Cheese, Stove Top Stuffing and the all-time favorite, Jello. 

But – Altria has spun off a significant share of its Kraft ownership in an IPO and may soon divest even more (or all holdings).

What will happen then to the Altria image? 

 

Click Here for our Profile on Altria

 

 

 

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