"The single best stock to own of the last 50 years was cigarette giant Altria (NYSE: MO). Its stock compounded at an average of nearly 20% a year for half a century – enough to turn $1,000 into more than $8 million.
The last 50 years was the era of technology, when the world went from abacus to iPad. Yet the single best company to own sells the same product today as it did 100 years ago. Part of this is because Altria is a successful company, of course. But its secret is that it's been a modestly successful company for an immodest amount of time. Lots of companies earned 20% annual returns for shorter periods of time, but Altria has earned them for decades. That enabled compound returns to go from impressive to extraordinary."
