If you're looking for dividend stocks that you can own for the next decade, or longer, these two consumer staples makers should be on your short list today.
Coca-Cola (KO 1.02%) is a beverage giant with more than six decades of annual dividend increases behind it. PepsiCo (PEP 3.71%) is a beverage, snack, and food giant with more than five decades of annual increases under its belt. Both look attractively priced despite the lofty level of the S&P 500 (^GSPC -2.71%).
Here's what you need to know.
What do these Dividend Kings do?
Coca-Cola is the more focused of these two consumer staples giants, both of which rank among the largest consumer staples companies in the world. Coca-Cola is actually the slightly larger entity by market cap, even though it only makes beverages. Its namesake brand is one of the best-known brands in the world, and the most important soda brand. But it has plenty of important drink brands beyond Coke.
PepsiCo is also a beverage maker, but it has a more diverse business, as it also competes in the salty snack (Frito-Lay) and packaged food (Quaker Oats) spaces. It's the No. 1 salty snack maker and is one of the most important beverage companies. However, it doesn't particularly stand out from the pack in packaged foods in any way.
Both Coca-Cola and PepsiCo can compete with any consumer staples peer when it comes to scale, distribution strength, marketing skill, innovation chops, and the important role they play with retailers. In addition, they both have the size to act as industry consolidators. This means that they can buy smaller competitors to fill out their brand portfolios as they work to stay in line with consumer trends.
Either one would be a strong option for a long-term investor looking to own a well-run company for a decade or more. Both also stand out for being Dividend Kings, with Coca-Cola's dividend streak more than 60 years and PepsiCo's more than 50 years. So they're both likely to be particularly interesting to dividend lovers.
Coca-Cola isn't as cheap as PepsiCo
Coca-Cola, with the longer dividend streak, is actually performing better than PepsiCo as a business at the moment, and that has an implication for valuation. To put a broad number on that statement, Coca-Cola's 5% organic sales growth in the second quarter of 2025 was more than twice the 2.1% level that PepsiCo's achieved. It makes sense that Coca-Cola isn't quite as cheap as PepsiCo at the moment.
However, Coca-Cola's roughly 3.1% dividend is well above the S&P 500 index's yield of around 1.2%, even though it's only middle-of-the-road for the stock over the past decade or so. That said, Coca-Cola's price-to-sales (P/S) and price-to-earnings (P/E) ratios are both below their five-year averages right now. The stock doesn't go on sale very often, so even a slight discount is likely to be a good entry point for more conservative income investors.
PepsiCo is the more attractive choice for those who like value-oriented stocks. PepsiCo's nearly 4.1% yield is well above the market's yield and near the highest levels in the company's history. That hints that the stock is historically cheap, which is backed up by the fact that its P/S and P/E ratios are below their five-year averages. Investors who are a bit more aggressive will probably prefer PepsiCo at the moment.
Buy and hold Coca-Cola and PepsiCo
There is a broader shift in consumer buying habits toward "healthier" fare that has investors worried about the future of food-related companies. But Dividend Kings Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have proven adept at changing with the times before, and will likely do so again this time around. If you buy while Wall Street is worried, and hold for the long term, you'll probably end up with a very attractive investment for the next decade, or longer.
