For decades, tobacco stocks were the cream of the crop when it came to investment performance. Despite years and years of volume declines in the United States and other markets, sellers of cigarettes had two things going for them that enabled their stocks to crush the market: global population growth and pricing power. This enabled the companies to deliver consistent earnings growth and return capital to shareholders with fat dividends.

The 2010s and 2020s have not been nearly as kind to these stocks. For example, industry leader British American Tobacco (NYSE: BTI) has posted a total return of just 6% over the last 10 years. The S&P 500 is up 230% over that same period.

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Source Fool.com