Since Altria stock has crossed the $50 per share mark, I have been critical of the American tobacco giant’s valuation that has put the company at over 22x profits. Altria makes all of its money in the USA, so there is no angle about earnings being misstated due to the strength of the United States dollar in the past year. Even though I still find the stock pricey, I have revised my figure upward in light of the planned Anheuser-Busch takeover of SABMiller. With SABMiller increasing over 50% in the past two months in response to the takeover, the 27.3% Altria stake in SABMiller has increased the value of Altria’s holding by $10 billion. It also has the possibility of owning over 10% of the combined Anheuser-Busch Sab Miller Inbev megabrewery if it chooses to hold onto the stock and reinvest the cash portion in the stock.
Anyway, as I … Read the rest of this article!