The Biggest Threat to Big Tobacco

In today's edition, analyst Austin Smith discusses what he sees as the biggest threat to big tobacco now, and it's coming from a relatively small market: Australia. The country has recently enacted strict packaging requirements on cigarettes sold in the nation. The law stipulates that tobacco products be sold in the same olive-green packaging with graphic anti-smoking images on the wrapper. This threatens to lower cigarette prices there by as much as 19% by removing many tobacco corporations' biggest competitive advantage -- their brand strength. On a more macro level, if this legislation is effective in reducing smoking rates in Australia, it could be quickly adopted by other nations. 

Despite these risks, the international market is simply more favorable to many American firms than the regulation- and taxation-ridden domestic one. That's why our analysts uncovered "3 American Companies Set to Dominate the World." You can learn more about these three heavyweights going abroad in a big way by clicking here now. Fool on!