Forget Canopy Growth: This Cash‑Gushing Giant Won't Send Your Dollars Up in Smoke

It's nearly impossible to find a marijuana stock that has performed well over the years; even a game-changing event like President Donald Trump's late 2025 executive order to reschedule the drug didn't move the needle. Many marijuana companies, including industry stalwart Canopy Growth (NASDAQ: CGC), have seen their share prices erode along with their fundamentals.

If you still aim to invest in something smokable that produces a reliably strong passive income stream, consider ditching Canopy Growth and other pot titles. I've got a stock for you.

Not up in smoke

Without further ado, this is tobacco giant Altria (NYSE: MO), a titan of its industry with roots going back to the early 20th century.

Image source: Getty Images.

Altria hasn't done badly, considering that the popularity of its foundational product (traditional cigarettes) continues to decline. Altria's survival move is to pivot, and it's dived into cigarette-adjacent offerings, specifically e-cigarettes, oral tobacco, and vaping products. In fact, it has a name for this strategy -- Moving Beyond Smoking, sensibly enough. Management's ultimate ambition is to be a purveyor of smoke-free products by 2030.

Down but far from out

Just now, Altria's goal of becoming a fully smokeless producer looks a bit over-ambitious. The company has suffered notable setbacks with those alt-products, particularly its stinging defeat in a recent patent infringement case concerning the Njoy Ace vaping system. With that, it was hardly surprising that the company's smokeable products -- anchored by that durably popular cowboy favorite, Marlboro -- comprised 88% of net revenue in 2025.

Because it's still reliant on the waning traditional cigarette market, Altria's overall top line keeps eroding. Last year, total net revenue fell by 3% (to under $23.3 billion), the latest in a string of modest but still concerning decreases.

Anyone considering firing up an Altria investment needs to be cognizant of these long-term trends. On the bright side, the company continues to be reliably profitable and to operate at high margins. Also, as ever, it's a cash-generating machine, with free cash flow topping $9 billion last year -- the second-highest level over the past half-decade.

Gushing rivers of the green stuff mean plenty of funds for shareholder dividends. This is good because one of the great appeals of Altria's stock over the years has been its generous payout. In fact, the company is a Dividend King, one of the very few publicly traded companies that has increased its distribution at least once per year for a minimum of 50 years in a row.

Altria's streak hit 56 years in mid-2025, with a 4% bump to its quarterly dividend to $4.24 per share. That yields a meaty 6.3% these days, putting it firmly in high-yield dividend territory.

The company and its industry are in transition, so there's some uncertainty swirling around Altria's future. The pivot from traditional smokables to next-generation products is progressing in fits and starts, and 2030 might prove too ambitious a goal for that smoke-free future.

Yet Altria's not doing badly at all, given that its foundational product is fading fast, and it's still managing to keep investors sweet with that mighty dividend. Income investors in particular should consider Altria, and think seriously about leaving weed stocks in the ashtray.

Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.