(MONEY Magazine) – Investors who think CBS' surprise success with the western miniseries Lonesome Dove will lead to a roundup of profits for the network might consider the stock of Loews Corp. instead. The Tisch family controls both companies. CBS president and chief executive Laurence A. Tisch is also Loews' co-CEO, along with his brother Preston Robert Tisch. In addition, Loews owns 25% of CBS Inc., as well as insurance, cigarette, hotel and watch businesses. The miniseries, which CBS plans to show at least once more, seems to have attracted viewers to CBS' other programs. Such recent successes as Murphy Brown and Wiseguy have helped boost CBS from its first last-place finish in prime-time network ratings to a tie for second with ABC so far this season. If CBS can maintain that momentum this fall with new series, such as one starring Whoopi Goldberg, higher ratings would quickly translate to higher advertising profits. The risk, though, is that a recession could erode TV revenues and cause CBS stock to drop considerably. If, on the other hand, you own Loews, that company could provide steadier earnings from its recession-resistant businesses, particularly its Lorillard cigarette division. Loews also has a $20 billion securities portfolio, including the holdings of its insurance subsidiary. Thanks in large part to the Tisches' acumen, portfolio gains added 20% to the company's operating earnings for 1988, which are shown in the table at left. Loews avoided major losses during the 1987 crash also by having nearly all of its money in income investments. Michael Bunyaner, an analyst at Oppenheimer & Co., calls owning Loews stock ''a way to have Laurence and Preston Tisch, who own about 25% of the company, manage your capital along with their own.'' In addition, Bunyaner notes that on a price-to-book-value measure, Loews was recently selling at only 65% of the level for Standard & Poor's 400 industrials, compared with its historic ratio of 75% to 100%. Analyst Diana K. Temple of Salomon Bros. concurs. She believes the stock could rise in the next 12 months to twice its book value, or from $86.25 recently to about $104.

CHART: LOEWS CORP. (NYSE) Recent price $86.25 Year's range $86.25 to $62 Earnings per share P/E ratio

1988 $9.34 9.2 1989 (est.) $9.80 8.8