Cigarettes Are Safe as Long as You Just Invest: Riskless Return

Tobacco companies handed investors the best returns in the last decade when adjusted for volatility, and analysts at BNY Mellon Wealth Management and Janney Montgomery Scott LLC say that will continue as profits prove resilient amid economic turmoil.

The BLOOMBERG RISKLESS RETURN RANKING shows the MSCI World Tobacco Index had the highest return out of 67 groups in the MSCI World Index in the 10 years through 2011. The tobacco gauge, which comprises eight companies including Philip Morris International Inc. and Japan Tobacco Inc., advanced 13.3 percent after taking into account price swings, almost five times the gain of the broader measure.