Coca-Cola Stock Is Interesting, but Here's What I'd Buy Instead

With 64 consecutive years of expanding its dividend and a 2.6% yield, Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) is 1 of the astir reliable ways to enactment successful the banal marketplace portion collecting passive income. But Coke's dividend has played a supporting relation successful caller years.

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The existent prima of the amusement has been its soaring banal price. Coke jumped 12.3% successful 2025 and is already up 14.2% twelvemonth to day -- crushing the S&P 500's (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) 0.9% return.

Coke remains 1 of the astir intriguing dividend stocks to bargain now. But I deliberation Campbell's (NASDAQ: CPB) is simply a acold amended buy. Here's why.

Campbell's is known for its flagship crockery label, but it besides owns respective repast and snack brands, from Prego, Rao's Homemade, Pace, and V8 to Goldfish, Lance, Snyder's of Hanover, Pepperidge Farm, Cape Cod, and Kettle. The institution has been diversifying its gross watercourse by relying little connected salty meals and snacks, with brands and merchandise versions specially catered to health-conscious consumers.

Coke faces the aforesaid challenge, fixed its dense reliance connected Coca-Cola and different sodas. In 2025, 69% of Coke's worldwide lawsuit measurement was brushed drinks. Meanwhile, its trademark cola accounted for 42% of U.S. portion lawsuit measurement and 48% of non-U.S. portion lawsuit volume.

Lower-calorie and sugar-free versions of Coke proceed to execute well, but the institution is inactive heavy reliant connected 1 brand, leaving it susceptible to changing user preferences.

Still, Coke's results talk for themselves, arsenic the institution has done a masterful occupation of maintaining integrated maturation and ultra-high margins acknowledgment to its elite proviso chain, distributed bottling network, and unmatched planetary marque recognition.

Coca-Cola deserves a premium valuation, but Campbell's is simply excessively heavy successful the bargain bin to ignore.

Campbell's fetches a specified 11.1 guardant price-to-earnings ratio compared to 24.7 for Coke.

Unlike Coke, Campbell's has struggled to walk on costs to consumers. But it is inactive generating ample escaped currency travel and net to screen its dividend. In fact, Campbell's has a akin payout ratio to Coke and amended free-cash-flow conversion implicit the trailing 12 months.

Campbell's doesn't person Coke's elite way grounds of boosting its payout, but it has maintained oregon raised its dividend each twelvemonth since 2002. And it yields 5.8% -- which is substantially much than Coke.