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PepsiCo has renewed its exclusive beverage partnership with Taco Bell for 11 years through 2036, covering U.S. locations and international markets. The deal comes as a win following PepsiCo's recent loss of KFC to Coca-Cola. While the Taco Bell renewal is positive, the analyst notes PepsiCo faces challenges with flat organic sales in North America and suggests the deal may not be a major game-changer for the company's fundamentals.

The article compares two defensive dividend stocks: Kimberly-Clark and Coca-Cola. While Kimberly-Clark offers a higher dividend yield (4.78%) and lower valuation multiples, Coca-Cola is recommended as the better buy due to superior profitability (27.3% net margin), stronger stock price appreciation (70.2% over 5 years), and consistent dividend growth (64 consecutive years of increases). Both are Dividend Kings with reliable payout histories.

The article recommends three dividend stocks for long-term investors: Coca-Cola, a Dividend King with 64 consecutive years of dividend increases; Microsoft, which is successfully adapting to AI opportunities with strong cloud business growth; and Visa, which maintains a dominant position in payment processing despite regulatory challenges and has increased payouts by 306% over the past decade.