Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE: MO)

Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE: MO)

If the idea of putting a tobacco company in your portfolio doesn’t make you uneasy, consider the benefits of investing in Altria (MO), the parent company of Phillip Morris USA: A steady dividend (currently 8% and pegged by analysts at 8.5% in 2009) and essentially recession-proof performance. Tough times mean more people lighting up.

As an added bonus, proposed legislation that would require FDA regulation of the tobacco industry would actually help Altria. The bill, which President-elect Obama co-sponsored, would make it virtually impossible for a new cigarette product to emerge on the market, but would prevent the FDA from ever completely banning cigarettes. For the company that currently has about half the US tobacco market share, that’s music to their ears.