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Why This "Boring" Stock Is a Strong Buy Right Now

May 15, 2026 — 06:39 pm EDT

Written by

Leo Sun for

The Motley Fool->

Key Points

- Coca-Cola’s evergreen business model is well-insulated from macro headwinds.

- It’s a great stock to buy, hold, and forget for income-oriented investors.

- 10 stocks we like better than Coca-Cola ›

Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) is often considered a boring blue chip stock, owned for income and stability rather than robust growth. Yet over the past five years, its stock has rallied nearly 50% and generated a total return of more than 70%. Let's see why Coca-Cola's stock rose, and why it's still a strong buy right now.

Image source: Coca-Cola.

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Why is Coca-Cola still a strong buy?

Over the past few decades, Coca-Cola has launched and acquired more brands of bottled water, teas, fruit juices, sports drinks, energy drinks, coffee, and even alcoholic drinks. It also refreshed its flagship sodas with healthier versions, smaller serving sizes, and new flavors.

That expansion enabled Coca-Cola to consistently grow its earnings, even as soda consumption rates declined across several of its largest markets. Coca-Cola also maintained high margins by only selling its concentrates and syrups to independent bottlers, which handled the capital-intensive process of producing and distributing its finished drinks.

From 2020 to 2025, Coca-Cola's comparable EPS rose from $1.95 to $3.00, while its adjusted free cash flow grew from $8.7 billion to $11.4 billion. For 2026, it expects its organic revenue to rise 4%-5% and its comparable EPS to increase 8%-9%. That steady growth indicates it's well-insulated from inflation and other macro headwinds.

Coca-Cola's stock still looks reasonably valued at 24 times forward earnings, it pays an attractive forward yield of 2.6%, and it's raised its dividend annually for 64 consecutive years. So if you're looking for a safe stock to buy, hold, and forget, Coca-Cola checks all the right boxes.

Should you buy stock in Coca-Cola right now?

Before you buy stock in Coca-Cola, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Coca-Cola wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $468,861!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,445,212!*

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*Stock Advisor returns as of May 15, 2026.

Leo Sun has positions in Coca-Cola. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.