MKC

The author recommends two high-yield dividend stocks for October: Medtronic (MDT), which has completed a business overhaul and is approaching Dividend King status with a 3.3% yield, and McCormick (MKC), a consumer staples company with 39 years of dividend increases and a 4.2% yield that is acquiring Unilever's food business to roughly double its sales.

McCormick & Company delivered solid Q3 fiscal 2026 results with net sales rising 17.4% to $2,024.8 million, driven by the McCormick de Mexico acquisition and 1.9% organic growth. Adjusted earnings of 86 cents per share beat consensus estimates, while adjusted gross margin expanded 180 basis points to 39.3%. The company reaffirmed its fiscal 2026 outlook but expects higher commodity and freight costs in Q4, with a packaging constraint potentially reducing full-year organic growth by 30 basis points.

McCormick reported Q3 earnings of $0.86 per share, beating consensus estimates of $0.75, with revenues of $2.02 billion exceeding expectations. However, the stock carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) rating due to unfavorable estimate revisions and has underperformed the market by 31.9% year-to-date. Mondelez is expected to report Q3 earnings of $0.71 per share with revenues of $9.97 billion.