There's no way to sugarcoat the trade-off being made by British American Tobacco (NYSE: BTI) shareholders. You're getting a massive 9.7% dividend yield, but you are taking on a huge amount of risk for that outsize yield. The big problem is that there is no easy fix to what ails this cigarette giant. Still, it is making progress on key initiatives. Here's a quick look at British American Tobacco and whether it is a buy, sell, or hold.

As its name implies, British American Tobacco makes tobacco products, mostly cigarettes. Smoking causes cancer and, broadly speaking, people are increasingly shunning the habit. That's the big story behind this stock and why investors have such a dour view of it that the dividend yield is getting close to double-digit territory.

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Source Fool.com