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Here's a look at how Altria built its brand empire and where the tobacco stock could expand as it seeks to grow beyond smoking.
What companies does Altria own?
Altria owns a leading portfolio of tobacco products for the U.S. market. The company's portfolio includes smokeable products, oral tobacco products, and investments outside the tobacco industry. Here's a closer look at the companies Altria owns and its investments.
Phillip Morris USA
Phillip Morris USA is the largest tobacco company in the U.S., with a 45.9% market share in 2024. Marlboro is its leading brand, commanding a 41.7% share of the U.S. cigarette market and bigger than the next 10 brands combined. The company manufactures other premium and discount cigarette brands as well, including Parliament, Virginia Slims, and L&M.
Market Share
Horizon Innovations
Altria formed a joint venture with J.T. Group in 2022 to expand its heated tobacco portfolio. The Horizon Innovations joint venture focuses on marketing and commercializing heated tobacco stick products in the U.S. The company's Phillip Morris USA unit owns a 75% economic interest in Horizon, with J.T. Group owning the other 25%.
Smokeable products (Phillip Morris USA and John Middleton) make up most of Altria's revenue. In the first six months of 2025, the company reported $9.8 billion in revenues net of excise taxes. Smokeable products contributed $8.5 billion of that, down 2.1% from the same period in 2024. Meanwhile, cigarettes comprise most of the volumes shipped from its smokeable products segment (97%).
The company's oral tobacco products segment contributed almost $1.4 billion in revenue for Altria during the first six months of 2025, up 3.4% from the same period in 2024. Strong volume growth of its on! product (up 22.7%) helped drive revenue growth for the segment.
While Phillip Morris USA is currently the company's main revenue source, Altria is working toward reducing its reliance on smoking. The company has a focus it calls Moving Beyond Smoking®, though it currently is reassessing the exact numbers of its smoke-free goals.
This initiative suggests that USSTC, Helix Innovations, and NJOY will become increasingly important to Altria's financial results. Given the continued decline in the U.S. smoking sector, that should make it a better stock to buy and hold.
What companies could Altria buy in the future?
Altria is evolving as it works toward "moving beyond smoking." Its vision is to "lead the transition of adult smokers to a smoke-free future" by helping them transition to less harmful options. That suggests the company will continue to seek out investments in smoke-free products, including those with tobacco and without.
In 2023, Altria introduced its 2028 enterprise goals, including one to compete beyond the U.S. nicotine space. The company believes international smoke-free and non-nicotine categories will represent multibillion-dollar business opportunities over the next few years.
While the company aims to organically grow the volumes of its current smoke-free products by marketing them internationally, it could also continue to make acquisitions to help accelerate its move beyond smoking. Among the opportunities the company is considering is expanding into new non-nicotine products like cannabis products or caffeine pouches.
Mergers and Acquisitions
Given that strategic direction, Altria could buy companies focused on those products. For example, it could acquire full control over Cronos or another cannabis company to expand into cannabis products. It could also look to buy a caffeine-pouch maker like Grinds Coffee Pouches. Altria's move beyond smoking could also see it move back into the food and beverage industry.
In 1998, its predecessor, Phillip Morris, acquired Kraft Foods and purchased General Foods the following year. While the renamed Altria spun off Kraft Foods -- now KraftHeinz (NYSE:KCR) -- to its shareholders in 2007, it could consider getting back into the food business by acquiring a snacking or confectionary company.
The company could also increase its investment in the beverage sector by raising its stake in Anheuser-Busch, buying another beer maker, or investing in another beverage category, like energy drinks or coffee. In the past, it has also invested in the wine sector (Altria sold its Ste. Michelle Wine Estates business for $1.2 billion in 2021) and could reenter the sector if it finds a compelling opportunity.
The company will also likely continue to invest in smokeless products as opportunities arise. While its $12.8 billion investment for a minority stake in e-vapor products maker JUUL Labs was a big flop (Altria exchanged its entire stake in the company for heated tobacco intellectual property rights worth $250 million in 2022), smokeless products are a key part of its future.
However, as the JUUL investment showed, not all of Altria's investments have paid off in the past. It must ensure that future investments to expand its smokeless business will grow shareholder value instead of destroying it, as the JUUL investment did.
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The bottom line on companies Altria owns
Altria is a leader in selling tobacco products in the U.S. However, the company is working toward a smoke-free future by investing in and acquiring smokeless products.
The company will likely continue to buy companies that make less harmful products, including those without nicotine. Altria hopes that evolving into a smokeless company will enable it to continue growing shareholder value by increasing its sales and earnings so it can return more cash to shareholders through share repurchases and a steadily rising dividend.
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