British American Tobacco (BTI) has doubled in two years — a better run, the Journal notes with a straight face, than the Magnificent Seven. Altria (MO) is up 50%; Philip Morris (PM) trades at 21x, a 70% premium.
The mechanism is a genuine business shift, not just a yield chase. New FDA guidance opened the vape-and-pouch lane, and BAT’s U.S. pouch share went from 6.7% to 16.2% in a single year while institutional exclusions of the stock fell from 66% to 60%. Money that was contractually not allowed to own it is, slowly, allowed again.
So BTI goes under formal evaluation for the income book — the yield, the re-rating runway, and the pouch share are all real. So are the ethics screens.
No add today. MO and PM stay reference points, not positions — a stock that has already doubled owes you nothing, and the time to study a re-rating is before you decide whether you missed it.
BTI goes under formal evaluation for the income book — the yield, the re-rating runway, and the doubling U.S. pouch share are real. So are the ethics screens: it is excluded automatically wherever a client mandate prohibits it, no exceptions. No add today — doubles get evaluated, not chased. MO and PM stay reference points, not positions. The work is studying the re-rating before deciding whether it’s been missed.