{"id":18789,"date":"2025-08-21T19:23:48","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T23:23:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/2025\/08\/21\/2-dividend-stocks-to-double-up-on-right-now\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T19:23:48","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T23:23:48","slug":"2-dividend-stocks-to-double-up-on-right-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/2025\/08\/21\/2-dividend-stocks-to-double-up-on-right-now\/","title":{"rendered":"2 Dividend Stocks to Double Up on Right Now"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Dividend investors have some advantages over investors who focus solely on growth stocks. The portfolio income they generate often grows over time and can buffer weak returns when markets are flat or declining. And if you choose to automatically reinvest the dividends, you can accumulate more shares when prices are low and amplify your long-term returns.<\/p>\n

With those positive points in mind, let\u2019s look at two attractive dividend stocks worth buying right now.<\/p>\n

1. PepsiCo stock is bubbly<\/strong>
PepsiCo\u2019s (PEP)<\/strong> dividend yield looks tempting at above 3.5% today. Sure, that high yield is partly thanks to the stock underperforming the market over the past two years. Wall Street pros are disappointed with the consumer staples giant\u2019s 1.7% organic sales growth so far in 2025, compared to 2024\u2019s 2% uptick. Management is expecting earnings to be flat this year, too, as the company works to pass along higher costs in an era of slow demand growth.<\/p>\n

Yet there\u2019s plenty to like about this investing story. Pepsi is highly profitable with an operating margin sitting at 18% of sales. The company is on track to return nearly $9 billion to shareholders this year, mainly through dividend payments. And the 5% dividend hike the company announced for 2025 was its 53rd consecutive annual raise, meaning it\u2019s a Dividend King. As for speeding growth back up, Pepsi is busy reshaping its portfolio to capitalize on demand for more health-focused drinks and snacks. It recently closed a $2 billion purchase of the Poppi prebiotic soda brand.<\/p>\n

You can own the stock for 2.2 times sales, compared to the 3 times sales (price-to sales valuation) that investors were paying for Pepsi in 2023. That discount should pave the way for better returns from here, even if it takes time for the company to accelerate organic sales gains back up toward the 10% spike that shareholders enjoyed in 2023.<\/p>\n

2. McDonald\u2019s looks tasty<\/strong>
In early August, McDonald\u2019s (MCD)<\/strong> had some good news for investors to celebrate in its Q2 earnings report. The restaurant company returned to comparable-store sales growth as gains hit 4% compared to the prior quarter\u2019s slight decline. Management credited its focus on value along with aggressive spending in areas like mobile ordering and delivery. \u201cOur technology investments and ability to scale digital solutions at speed will continue to elevate the McDonald\u2019s experience,\u201d CEO Chris Kempczinski said .<\/p>\n

Those investments aren\u2019t harming profitability, either. McDonald\u2019s posted 5% higher Q2 earnings and ample free cash flow. The chain\u2019s operating margin continues to climb toward 50% of sales.<\/p>\n

Shareholders will want to see more improvements in growth trends in the second half of 2025. I\u2019ll be watching for McDonald\u2019s to return to customer traffic gains, too, so it doesn\u2019t have to rely so much on higher average spending in its restaurants or on the digital selling channel.<\/p>\n

In any case, this 2.6%-yielding dividend stock has a good shot at boosting your portfolio returns from here, given its sluggish performance so far in 2025. Investors are clearly more interested in tech stocks right now, and that\u2019s creating an opportunity for income investors to pick up shares of high-performing companies like McDonald\u2019s and PepsiCo, securing many years of rising dividend payments in the process.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Demitri Kalogeropoulos<\/p>\n

46-Year-Old CEO Bets $44.2 Billion on One Stock<\/strong> [sponsor]
Netflix is NOT the future of entertainment. It’s only a small fraction. And one billionaire CEO is taking charge of what Netflix DOESN’T do and leading the way for the next generation of entertainment. His forward-thinking company, which many people haven’t even heard of yet, doesn’t only want to compete with Netflix… It wants to rule the world… <\/p>\n

Source: The Motley Fool<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dividend investors have some advantages over investors who focus solely on growth stocks. The portfolio income they generate often grows over time and can buffer weak returns when markets are flat or declining. And if you choose to automatically reinvest the dividends, you can accumulate more shares when prices are low and amplify your long-term […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dividends","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}