This Dividend Play Is Quietly One of the Best-Performing Stocks in History

This stock is by far the best investment I have ever made — and it's breaking out.

Market action is mixed on Wednesday morning as investors await the Federal Reserve interest rate decision at 2 p.m. ET, followed by Jerome Powell's press conference. Breadth is running slightly negative, but the Russell 2000 ETF IWM is leading with a gain of 0.5%.

Second-quarter GDP came in better than expected with growth of 3% and the GDP deflator, which measures inflation, was also better than expected with a drop to 2% versus expectations of 2.6%. The timing of tariffs distorts these numbers, and when averaged out over two quarters, they are not nearly as robust as they appear. However, they are better than expected, especially when it comes to inflation.

Quite a few stocks are bouncing back from a hit on Tuesday, but there is very likely to be elevated volatility on the Fed announcement this afternoon. I don’t have any great desire to bet on the outcome of that event.

One stock that caught my attention this morning is Altria Group MO. It broke out of a trading range and is now off its early highs, but it has a dividend yield of nearly 7%, which is likely to be increased in view of guidance.

Although it receives little attention, Altria is one of the best-performing stocks in history. According to a study at Arizona State University in 2024, $1 invested in MO 98 years ago would be worth over $2.6 million, which is a compounded annual return of around 17%.

The return on MO over the last 30 years is approximately 5,600% due to the spinoffs of Kraft Heinz KHC, Philip Morris International PM and Mondelez MDLZ. When the value of those spinoffs is considered with the large dividend, the stock has been one of the best investments in the market over the past 30 years. I’ve been in a Dividend Reinvestment Program since the mid-1990s, and the stock is by far the best investment I have ever made.

With the breakout move in MO taking place Wednesday, I’m looking to add to my position in anticipation of the solid dividend for years to come.

At the time of publication, Rev Shark was long MO.