Sectors & IndustriesConsumer DefensiveTobacco

Best Tobacco Stocks to Buy Now (2026)

Top tobacco stocks in 2026 ranked by overall Zen Rating. "A" Rated stocks have returned an average of +32.52% per year, and are the best tobacco stocks to buy now. Learn More.

According to Zen Ratings, our proprietary rating system that evaluates 115 factors proven to drive growth in stocks and assigns each stock in our system an overall letter grade as well as 7 individual Component Grades for Value, Growth, Momentum, Sentiment, Safety, Financials, and proprietary AI algorithms, the 3 best tobacco stocks to buy right now are:

British American Tobacco (NYSE:BTI) is the #1 top tobacco stock out of 9 with a Zen Rating of C. Stocks with a rating of C have had an average return of +7.53% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for British American Tobacco (NYSE:BTI) is: Value: C, Growth: C, Momentum: C, Sentiment: C, Safety: B, Financials: C, and AI: C.

British American Tobacco (NYSE:BTI) has a Due Diligence Score of 32, which is -5 points lower than the tobacco industry average of 37.

BTI passed 11 out of 38 due diligence checks and has average fundamentals. British American Tobacco has seen its stock return 35.02% over the past year, overperforming other tobacco stocks by 77 percentage points.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) is the #2 top tobacco stock out of 9 with a Zen Rating of C. Stocks with a rating of C have had an average return of +7.53% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for Altria Group (NYSE:MO) is: Value: C, Growth: C, Momentum: C, Sentiment: C, Safety: D, Financials: A, and AI: B.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) has a Due Diligence Score of 44, which is 7 points higher than the tobacco industry average of 37.

MO passed 15 out of 38 due diligence checks and has strong fundamentals. Altria Group has seen its stock return 22.82% over the past year, overperforming other tobacco stocks by 65 percentage points.

Altria Group has an average 1 year price target of $68.60, a downside of -5.57% from Altria Group's current stock price of $72.65.

Altria Group stock has a consensus Buy recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 5 analysts covering Altria Group, 60% have issued a Strong Buy rating, 0% have issued a Buy, 20% have issued a hold, while 0% have issued a Sell rating, and 20% have issued a Strong Sell.

Universal (NYSE:UVV) is the #3 top tobacco stock out of 9 with a Zen Rating of C. Stocks with a rating of C have had an average return of +7.53% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for Universal (NYSE:UVV) is: Value: C, Growth: C, Momentum: C, Sentiment: C, Safety: C, Financials: C, and AI: B.

Universal (NYSE:UVV) has a Due Diligence Score of 39, which is 2 points higher than the tobacco industry average of 37.

UVV passed 13 out of 38 due diligence checks and has average fundamentals. Universal has seen its stock lose -8.05% over the past year, overperforming other tobacco stocks by 34 percentage points.

Out of 5 tobacco stocks that have issued dividends in the past year, the 3 tobacco stocks with the highest dividend yields are:

Universal (NYSE:UVV) has an annual dividend yield of 6.12%, which is 2 percentage points higher than the tobacco industry average of 3.93%. Universal's dividend payout is stable, having never dropped by more than 10% in the last 10 years. Universal's dividend has shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

Universal's dividend payout ratio of 96.2% indicates that its high dividend yield might not be sustainable for the long-term.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) has an annual dividend yield of 5.78%, which is 2 percentage points higher than the tobacco industry average of 3.93%. Altria Group's dividend payout is stable, having never dropped by more than 10% in the last 10 years. Altria Group's dividend has shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

Altria Group's dividend payout ratio of 87.7% indicates that its high dividend yield is sustainable for the long-term.

British American Tobacco (NYSE:BTI) has an annual dividend yield of 3.95%, which is the same as the tobacco industry average of 3.93%. British American Tobacco's dividend payout is not stable, having dropped more than 10% two times in the last 10 years. British American Tobacco's dividend has not shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

British American Tobacco's dividend payout ratio of 63.2% indicates that its high dividend yield is sustainable for the long-term.

Tobacco stocks were up 3.22% in the last day, and up 2.13% over the last week. Altria Group was the among the top gainers in the tobacco industry, gaining 6.52% yesterday.

Altria Group shares are trading higher after the company reported better-than-expected Q1 financial results and reaffirmed FY26 adjusted EPS guidance with its midpoint above estimates.

Based on the Valuation rating, one of the 7 components of a stocks overall Zen Ratings grade, which evaluates factors including estimated earnings yield, earnings before interest and taxes/enterprise value, cash flow yield, free cash flow to price, and price-to-earnings growth (PEG ratio), the 3 most undervalued tobacco stocks right now are:

Universal (NYSE:UVV) is the most undervalued tobacco stock based on its Valuation Rating of C. Valuation is one of 7 Component Grades used to calculate the overall Zen Rating.

Universal has a valuation score of 43, which is 21 points higher than the tobacco industry average of 22. It passed 3 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

Universal's stock has dropped -8.05% in the past year. It has overperformed other stocks in the tobacco industry by 34 percentage points.

British American Tobacco (NYSE:BTI) is the second most undervalued tobacco stock based on its Valuation Rating of C. Valuation is one of 7 Component Grades used to calculate the overall Zen Rating.

British American Tobacco has a valuation score of 43, which is 21 points higher than the tobacco industry average of 22. It passed 3 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

British American Tobacco's stock has gained 35.02% in the past year. It has overperformed other stocks in the tobacco industry by 77 percentage points.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) is the third most undervalued tobacco stock based on its Valuation Rating of C. Valuation is one of 7 Component Grades used to calculate the overall Zen Rating.

Altria Group has a valuation score of 29, which is 7 points higher than the tobacco industry average of 22. It passed 2 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

Altria Group's stock has gained 22.82% in the past year. It has overperformed other stocks in the tobacco industry by 65 percentage points.

50% of tobacco stocks rated by analysts are a strong buy right now. On average, analysts expect tobacco stocks to rise by 16.84% over the next year.

0% of tobacco stocks have a Zen Rating of A (Strong Buy), 0% of tobacco stocks are rated B (Buy), 83.33% are rated C (Hold), 16.67% are rated D (Sell), and 0% are rated F (Strong Sell).