Is Altria a Buy?
It's a strange day when a tobacco company has far more success with its cigarette business than its reduced-risk products, but that's where Altria Group (NYSE: MO) finds itself today. Altria just missed analyst revenue expectations in the second quarter while beating forecasts on earnings, but its investment in electronic-cigarette maker Juul Labs has been absolutely crushed by the Food and Drug Administration, which ordered its devices pulled from store shelves. Meanwhile, the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled that Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM) is prohibited from importing its IQOS heated tobacco device into the country.
