Munger Mode rating: 2 out of 5 — Sell. Our own rating from the research report below, on business quality first: moat durability and management, with price separating the top three.
The verdict in one paragraph: Altria is a tollbooth on a bridge that fewer people cross every year, run by a toll collector who has taken the booth's prodigious cash and lost roughly $15 billion of it buying other bridges that collapsed. The Marlboro pricing machine still works — for now — but the Q2 2026 report showed the strain: industry volumes contracting about 5% a year, Marlboro's retail share down 1.4 points to 39.6% as inflation-squeezed smokers trade down, the oral segment's operating income falling 23% in the quarter, and the company's two designated growth vehicles (NJOY and on!) respectively banned from the market and losing share to a stronger competitor. A 12x earnings multiple and a 6.2% dividend yield are not cheap enough compensation for a business whose terminal value question has gone from theoretical to visible.
Recent filings analysed: 10-Q (2026-07-30), 8-K (2026-07-30), 10-K/A (2026-05-27), 8-K (2026-04-30).
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