Would You Bet On These Consumer Goods Companies?

In this week's Consumer Countdown, host Mark Reeth challenges Motley Fool consumer goods analysts Michael Finarelli and Sean O'Reilly to make a wager on the futures of several consumer goods companies.

First, Mark looks back at an old bet on Safeway (NYSE: SWY) that Mike passed on. Mike made the right choice by not taking Mark's bet that Safeway would continue its fantastic year-to-date run; as a matter of fact, the company is up nearly 13% since the bet was made. Mike doesn't want to stand in the way of Safeway's great momentum, nor does he want to go up against competitor Rite Aid (RAD -27.27%), which has been a great turnaround story this year.

Then, Sean decides to pass on Mark's bet that Altria (MO -0.24%) will rely more and more on e-cig sales going forward; while he likes the idea of e-cigs, they're still too small of a niche product for him to have complete faith in them.

Finally, Mike takes Mark's bet that Hershey (HSY -1.74%) will see its revenue increase again next quarter. He thinks that Hershey is a great business, and that its competitors aren't anywhere close to being on its level.