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Twenty years is a long time to hold a stock. It's long enough to live through a few recessions, a couple of CEO changes, and more than one round of investors declaring a company's best days are behind it.
The dividend stocks worth owning for that long are the ones making real, sometimes uncomfortable moves right now to make sure the business is still worth owning in 2046. These three are each doing exactly that, and are solid buys this month.
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Kimberly-Clark (NASDAQ: KMB) has raised its dividend for 54 consecutive years, a streak that survived the 2008 financial crisis and a pandemic that scrambled toilet paper demand overnight. What makes it worth buying now isn't the streak itself, though, it's what the company is doing to protect it for the next two decades.
Last year, Kimberly-Clark agreed to acquire Kenvue, the consumer health company behind Tylenol, Band-Aid, and Listerine, in a stock-and-cash deal worth roughly $48.7 billion, with the combination expected to close in the second half of 2026 and generate about $2.1 billion in annual cost and revenue synergies.
That's a lot of money and complexity for a company best known for Huggies and tissues to take on. I think it's the right call. Paper products are a mature, low-growth category. Consumer health brands people reach for by habit, not by price comparison, are a stickier business to own for the long run.
Kimberly-Clark raised its dividend again the last two years, even while working to close the deal, a signal that management isn't treating shareholder payouts as something to sacrifice. Kimberly-Clark's dividend increase also makes it a Dividend King, a company that has grown its dividend for at least 50 consecutive years. This is a strong sign of company strength.
PepsiCo (NASDAQ: PEP) spent years adding brands until its portfolio became harder to manage than it needed to be. That's changing. Last year, after Elliott Investment Management built a $4 billion stake and pushed for faster action, PepsiCo struck a collaborative agreement to accelerate its Strategy 2030 plan, which includes closing plants, shutting down redundant production lines, and eliminating nearly 20% of its U.S. SKUs by early 2026, according to the AP.
Cutting a fifth of your product lineup sounds dramatic, and in the near term, it will likely cost the company shelf space and sales. But a leaner PepsiCo focused on what's actually growing is a better bet for 20 years than one spreading itself across thousands of slow-moving items.
The clearest sign the strategy is working so far is Poppi, the prebiotic soda PepsiCo acquired last year, which generated more than $500 million in year-to-date retail sales, up more than 50% from a year earlier, according to Entrepreneur. That's the kind of brand a lean and simplified, better-run PepsiCo should be able to produce more of.
Sysco (NYSE: SYY) just made its boldest move in years, agreeing to acquire Jetro Restaurant Depot for about $29 billion, financed through a mix of new debt and cash and stock paid to Restaurant Depot's owners.
The deal pushes Sysco into the cash-and-carry wholesale model, where customers pay up front and haul away their own supplies through roughly 166 warehouse locations across 35 states, a very different business from Sysco's traditional delivery-truck network, per Reuters.
Investors didn't love the news at first; the stock fell about 12% on worries over how much debt Sysco is taking on to get it done. That reaction is fair to note, and it's a real risk worth watching over the next few years. But Sysco also reaffirmed its commitment to its current dividend even as it absorbs the deal, and it's adding a cost-conscious, higher-margin channel that reaches independent restaurants; something its delivery business doesn't always serve well. Paying more up front for a broader reach is a 20-year trade I'd make for a company already running a food distribution network that most of its rivals can't match.
None of these three moves pays off next quarter, and that's sort of my point. Twenty years is enough time for any messy acquisition to finish working, for a leaner product lineup to prove it was worth the short-term pain, and for a risky bet on debt to either justify itself or get paid down. I'd rather own businesses willing to make an uncomfortable decision today than ones coasting on a streak alone, because the dividend that compounds and matters in 2046 is the one these companies are building the case for right now.
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Micah Zimmerman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Sysco. The Motley Fool recommends Kenvue. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
3 Dividend Stocks to Buy in October and Hold for 20 Years was originally published by The Motley Fool
