Is Altria a Buy After Losing the Rights to IQOS?
Altria (NYSE: MO) once thought it was best positioned to take over the reduced-risk market with an ownership stake in the leading electronic cigarette manufacturer, Juul Labs, and a marketing agreement with Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM) to sell its leading IQOS heated tobacco device in the U.S. The one-two punch would set the cigarette maker atop the rapidly growing e-cig market.
All that went up in smoke after Juul was blamed for rising teenage e-cig usage and its once-dominant market share evaporated. Then the IQOS was banned from being imported into the U.S. because it violated British American Tobacco's (NYSE: BTI) patents. That combination all but knocked Altria out of the e-cig market.
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Source Fool.com
