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), which has been a great turnaround story this year.

Then, Sean decides to pass on Mark's bet that Altria (MO -0.23%) 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 -0.57%) 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.