It's true that Verizon has a lot of debt on the books, but the company is a free-cash-flow-generating machine, and it remains in good position to continue hiking its payout while investing in infrastructure and growth initiatives. Wireless service will only become increasingly central to business and everyday life, and Verizon is an attractively valued category leader that should be able to continue cutting big checks to shareholders. A strong inflationary environment should help Altria continue raising prices at a rapid clip, and the company has been able to successfully control its input costs, so profit should follow.