2 Dividend Stocks to Buy Now With Higher Yields Than the 30-Year U.S. Treasury Bond

Altria and Kraft Heinz each offer roughly 6.4% dividend yields, exceeding the 30-year Treasury yield of about 5.24%, but both carry material business risks. Altria raised its quarterly dividend 4.7% to $1.11 and may gain a structural tax benefit through tobacco exports, though its Njoy Ace vaping product has been off shelves since April 2025 following a patent ruling. Kraft Heinz maintained its $0.40 quarterly dividend and redirected about $700 million into its brands after pausing a planned split, including a multiyear Disney partnership intended to support relevance and sales volumes.

Analysis

MO’s prospective tax-recapture economics are more valuable as a margin-support mechanism than as a volume catalyst: incremental export production can monetize existing U.S. manufacturing overhead while domestic cigarette volumes continue to erode. The key diligence item is the annual excise-tax recovery per exported unit and the transfer-pricing split with PM; without that disclosure, the market cannot sensibly capitalize the benefit. A meaningful, recurring cash-flow contribution could support MO’s valuation and dividend coverage over 6-18 months, but it does not repair the reduced-risk-product gap created by the vaping patent injunction.

The MO/PM arrangement also creates a less obvious asymmetry: PM gains supply flexibility without assuming U.S. nicotine-regulatory exposure, while MO assumes execution, customs, and potential legislative risk around drawback treatment. Near term, the stock is likely rate-sensitive rather than catalyst-sensitive; a further rise in long-end yields can compress the equity-income premium before the export program begins. The thesis is falsified if management indicates immaterial tax savings, shipment timing slips beyond 2027, or nicotine-category share losses accelerate despite stable combustible pricing.

KHC’s Disney relationship is strategically useful only if it improves retail velocity or pricing power outside the partnership; park, cruise, and licensing revenue alone is unlikely to move a company of KHC’s scale. Redirecting investment toward brands raises the probability of a 1-3 quarter margin reset before any demand benefit is visible, particularly if promotional spending rises against private-label competition. With the dividend yield only modestly above a long Treasury yield, investors are being paid little for leverage to food-input inflation, weak volume elasticity, and the risk that brand spending becomes a substitute for—rather than evidence of—organic relevance.

Consensus likely overweights the headline appeal of Disney and underweights the hurdle rate imposed by elevated risk-free yields. DIS is the cleaner beneficiary if consumer-products monetization expands, but the financial impact is likely immaterial relative to its broader experiences and streaming drivers; this is not a DIS earnings catalyst.

Key Decisions for Investors

• Keep MO on a 2027 catalyst watchlist rather than add on yield alone. Require disclosure that the drawback program adds a material, recurring FCF contribution and confirmation of shipment commencement; exit/avoid if FDA or litigation developments further delay Njoy’s return or if the tax benefit is characterized as immaterial.
• Prefer a relative-value expression of long MO / short KHC over a 6-12 month horizon, sized modestly: MO has a potentially unmodeled margin lever, while KHC faces a higher probability of brand-investment-driven margin dilution. Reassess if KHC demonstrates sustained U.S. retail volume improvement and gross-margin expansion after incremental marketing spend.
• Do not underwrite KHC’s dividend as a bond substitute. For income allocation, use long-duration Treasuries for the core exposure and consider KHC only after management provides measurable targets for incremental brand spend, retail velocity, and margin payback; absent those metrics, the Disney announcement is not a tradable earnings catalyst.
• Monitor long-end Treasury yields as the immediate factor risk for both equities: a sustained rise in the 30-year yield would likely pressure their multiples regardless of dividend actions, while a 50-75 bp decline would create the more favorable entry window for high-yield defensives.