PepsiCo (PEP -0.44%) is one of the largest companies in the world -- and for investors looking for well-established businesses, Pepsi stock is worth considering. It's great for passive income because it pays a generous dividend and often increases the dividend amount. Pepsi also owns quite a few recognizable brands. Here's what you need to know to buy the stock.
How to buy Pepsi stock
Here's a step-by-step look at how to invest in Pepsi stock:
- Open your brokerage app: Log in to your brokerage account where you handle your investments. If you don't have one yet, take a look at our favorite brokers and trading platforms to find the right one for you.
- Search for Pepsi: Enter the ticker "PEP" into the search bar to bring up the stock's trading page.
- Decide how many shares to buy: Consider your investment goals and how much of your portfolio you want to allocate to this stock.
- Select order type: Choose between a market order to buy at the current price or a limit order to specify the maximum price you're willing to pay.
- Submit your order: Confirm the details and submit your buy order.
- Review your purchase: Check your portfolio to ensure your order was filled as expected and adjust your investment strategy accordingly.
Should you invest in Pepsi stock?
Pepsi could be a good investment if you're looking for a high-dividend stock. It's fairly low risk, as it's one of the biggest food and beverage companies in the world. But it's also been a low-growth company lately.
Revenue was basically flat from 2023 to 2024, going from $91.5 billion to $91.9 billion. Pepsi stock also hasn't done much in recent years. Between June 2020 and June 2025, the share price decreased by 1%.
The main selling point of Pepsi as a business is its diverse portfolio of food and beverage products. That's one of its key advantages over rival Coca-Cola (KO -0.19%). Coca-Cola may have the lead as a beverage company, but Pepsi has an impressive 23 billion-dollar brands (brands that make at least $1 billion per year). In addition to its signature soda line, major Pepsi brands include:
- Mountain Dew.
- Frito-Lay.
- Quaker food and snacks.
- Tropicana.
- Aquafina.
On the downside, Pepsi's profit margins aren't the best. Operating margin in 2024 was 14.0%, compared to 21.2% for Coca-Cola. Even though Pepsi made almost twice as much revenue, Coca-Cola still came out ahead in terms of net income ($10.6 billion in 2024 compared to $9.6 billion for Pepsi). The difference in profit margins is one of the reasons some choose to invest in Coca-Cola stock instead of Pepsi.
To its credit, Pepsi has done a good job of adding quality brands to its portfolio. It typically makes one major acquisition per year, with some of the more notable examples being its acquisitions of Rockstar Energy Drink in 2020, Siete Family Foods in 2024, and prebiotic soda brand Poppi in 2025.
NASDAQ: PEP
Key Data Points
Is Pepsi profitable?
Pepsi is profitable, with net income of $9.6 billion in 2024. That was a 5% year-over-year increase from 2023. Although Pepsi usually only delivers modest growth, it has been consistently profitable over the years.
Those are just a few of the ETFs with heavy allocations of Pepsi stock. There are also broader index funds, such as the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO -0.73%), which aims to track the S&P 500, and the Invesco QQQ ETF (QQQ -0.83%), a Nasdaq-100 index fund. These provide a more diverse range of investments but have smaller Pepsi allocations.
Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF)
Will Pepsi stock split?
Pepsi hasn't announced any plans for a stock split, but it's certainly a possibility. The company has split its stock four times over the years to keep its share price down. That share price has increased quite a bit over the years and is now much higher than in 1996, before its most recent stock split.
The share price for Pepsi is also significantly higher than rival Coca-Cola's. A stock split could be a way for Pepsi to lower its price and become more attractive to potential investors.
The bottom line
If you want to invest in Pepsi, you have several options. The most straightforward option is to buy Pepsi stock yourself through a brokerage account. For a more diversified investment, you can pick one of the many ETFs with exposure to Pepsi.
As far as whether you should put your money in Pepsi, that depends on your goals and the current makeup of your investment portfolio. It's probably not a company that's going to deliver significant growth. But Pepsi stock could be a smart choice if you're looking for something safe and with a great dividend.
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