A Pack of Smokes or a Share of Stock?

I saw a sign for a pack of smokes the other day and it was real close to $7 for a pack of smokey treats. That got me thinking-with markets like they have been, could I easily buy a share of a great company for the same price as a pack of cigarettes. Not possible you say. Well let's take a look shall we.

A quick screen of stocks trading at less than $7 per share with a market capitalization of more than $1 Billion reveals quite a list. In fact, there are 41 companies in the result set. While that does not mean they are all great investments(some are rightfully cheap) you can cetainly find a few gems and pick up a few hundred shares for less than a 4 night vacation for 2.

Here's a sample:

C Citigroup
MOT Motorola
BSX Boston Scientific
XRX Xerox
F Ford
CX Cemex
S Sprint Nextel
MTU Mitsubishi
GM General Motors
M Macy's
TSN Tyson Foods
HIG The Hartford
LPL LG Displays
WIT Wipro