Dividend Investors Should Favor Pepsi Over Coke

The other day I was sharing my thoughts with subscribers to my new blog, My Own Analyst, about how some downtrodden Mega Caps were looking like they may finally be turning. In the course of highlighting seven that were within 15% of their 52-week lows, one name surprised me: Pepsico (PEP). I recall 18 months or so ago participating in a debate during an investment committee meeting at one of my clients, and we opted to go with Coca-Cola (KO) over PEP for its higher international exposure, primarily. We also were somewhat concerned over the snack food exposure at PEP. Take a look at how the two stocks have diverged so dramatically since Q3:Click to enlarge While I am no expert on all of the nuances of these two mature companies, one factor that I believe accounts for the vast majority of this divergence is the weakness of the... Read more