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A durable dividend streak needs two things working together: demand that doesn't evaporate when the economy wobbles, and a payout backed by real free cash flow rather than borrowed time. The three companies below have track records of raising their dividends already in place, and the fundamentals to keep doing it through a genuinely rough stretch.
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WD-40 Company (NASDAQ: WDFC) sells a single, iconic lubricant spray that I can smell right now as I write this. The spray has occupied the same spot in garages, toolboxes, and kitchen drawers for decades. The company also sells that spray alongside smaller brands like 3-IN-ONE and Spot Shot.
The company itself states it has paid dividends without interruption for 40 years. This streak is built on a product category that rarely attracts serious competition. Few companies have tried to dislodge WD-40 from its position, largely because the brand itself has become synonymous with the product category, the way a person asks for a tissue rather than a facial wipe. That kind of entrenched consumer habit does not reverse during a recession; if anything, a squeaky hinge or a rusted bolt becomes more likely to get fixed at home rather than paid for professionally when household budgets tighten.
The balance sheet backs up the story: WD-40 carries a debt-to-EBITDA ratio below 1, generates roughly $80 million in annual free cash flow against a dividend payout ratio in the mid-60% range. A business this insulated from competitive pressure, carrying this little leverage, has little reason to interrupt a decade-long habit of rewarding shareholders.
Energizer Holdings (NYSE: ENR) makes batteries under the Energizer and Eveready names, along with Armor All and STP auto care products, items that sit in a strange category of consumer spending: nobody plans for them, yet almost everybody buys them. A dead smoke detector battery or an empty car air freshener gets replaced immediately, regardless of what's happening in the broader economy, because the purchase is small and the inconvenience of not making it is immediate.
Energizer currently yields close to 5.9%. Since separating from Edgewell Personal Care in 2015, the company raised its quarterly dividend from $0.25 to $0.30 by 2019 and has held it there since, a run that has not seen a single cut through a pandemic, an inflation spike, and the higher interest rate environment that followed.
Energizer's payout ratio tops 100% based on reported earnings, which looks concerning at first. But free cash flow tells a better story: the company generated about $105 million in the first nine months of fiscal 2026, enough to cover its dividends, while paying down over $100 million in debt. Meanwhile, the pretty evergreen use of battery-powered devices, from smart home gadgets to cordless tools, provides a steady tailwind for Energizer's business.
Haleon (NYSE: HLN), the consumer health company spun off from GSK in 2022, owns Sensodyne, Advil, Centrum, Panadol, and Voltaren, brands used by more than a billion consumers worldwide for the kind of everyday health needs that do not wait for a better economy. A toothache, a headache, or a vitamin deficiency does not pause because the market corrected 10%.
Haleon has been explicit about its intentions here, stating its policy is to grow its ordinary dividend at least in line with adjusted earnings, and it followed through this year by raising its interim dividend 9% alongside double-digit growth in its flagship Sensodyne brand, according to reporting from ADVFN. The fundamentals support that commitment: Haleon generated roughly £769 million (about $1.02 billion) in free cash flow in the first half of 2026 alone, deliberately keeps its payout ratio at the lower end of a 30% to 50% range, well below what its cash flow could support, and carries net debt at about 2.5 times adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, a leverage level the company has explicitly targeted as sustainable rather than stretched.
That combination, a public company still building its multiyear dividend track record, but backed by a deliberately conservative payout policy, strong cash generation, and a portfolio of products people buy regardless of financial conditions, makes Haleon a reasonable bet to keep raising its payout for years to come.
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Micah Zimmerman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Haleon Plc and WD-40. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Prediction: These 3 Dividend Stocks Will Raise Their Payouts No Matter What the Market Does was originally published by The Motley Fool
