McDonald's and Coca Cola - A Tale of Two Dividend Aristocrats

McDonald's (MCD), a Dividend Aristocrat, has a lot of similarities with another one, Coca Cola (KO). They each have some of the best known brands in the world, so well known that it's unnecessary to explain what they do. Their final products provide quality food/drinks to the public at moderate prices. They are both global companies investing for major expansion in rapidly growing Asian, African and Latin American countries. Both have strong financials and are proud of annual dividends increases over the long term. In addition, each has a large position in treasury stock, equivalent to a major company. The franchise concept at McDonald's is similar to the bottler system at Coca Cola. MCD began its first restaurant, as we know it, in 1955 and has grown to more than 32,000 restaurants with over $22 billion in revenues last year when it returned $5 billion to shareholders (dividends and share repurchases). Sales were divided into 3 principal regions:... Read more