If it was just an anti-vice thing, I would drop Diageo (DEO) from the Cara 100 list too; but there is a difference in my mind between using alcohol (or gambling, etc) reasonably and putting yourself on track for an early grave. As I see it, smoking not only kills the participant, but also the people around who are exposed to second-hand smoke.

Dean Witter once had this Exec Vice President who dropped by my office many days at the noon hour, smoking a stogie. I told him it was offensive, but he said the Chairman didn't want him smoking in the Executive Offices, yada yada, and since he outranked me in that firm, it was a matter of being forced to grin and bear it.

Later the building codes changed, thankfully. But I have been opposed to smoking for over 30 years.

I also don't accept the socially oriented investment practices of some groups as being anything more than a marketing situation, but I do accept that we are all biased in various ways, and that's where marketing comes in.

In my case, I really ought to include Altria in the Cara 100 because the financial structure, margins, returns, etc, are superb. So maybe I'll bite my tongue one day and put it into the Cara 250, if, as and when I try to expand my Global Best Companies list.

In any event Merrill Lynch has written a report that will allow those who are interested to delve into the data. You can also compare that data, and the opinions, to the same from Value Line, which produces free quarterly reports for each of the Dow 30. Download Merrill Lynch July 25 MO report.

The next Value Line report for Altria is next Friday (August 4).

The stock is a good play for Bear markets, if you can't see yourself sitting in cash for 6 months, and you don't mind supporting the practice of smoking.

Altria Group, Inc. [GICS 30, Dow 30]
(MO: Yahoo Finance file)
(MO: StockChart chart)
(MO: Investertech chart)
(MO: ADVFN Financial Data)
(MO: ADVFN Financial Data)
(MO: Value Line Report May 5: next one is due Aug. 4)