Should Passive-Income Investors Buy PepsiCo Stock Before 2026?

PepsiCo remains attractive to income investors for its dividend, but Motley Fool’s Stock Advisor did not include PEP among its '10 best stocks to buy now' in a Dec. 11, 2025 video (using Dec. 9, 2025 prices). The piece markets Stock Advisor’s long-term performance—citing a 965% average total return versus 193% for the S&P 500 and illustrative $1,000-to-hundreds-of-thousands examples for Netflix and Nvidia—to encourage subscriptions; disclosures note the author Parkev Tatevosian, CFA has no position in the mentioned stocks, the Motley Fool reports no positions, and the author may receive affiliate compensation.

Analysis

The article highlights that PepsiCo (PEP) remains notable to passive income investors for its dividend payments but was explicitly not included in The Motley Fool Stock Advisor's "10 best stocks to buy now" list published in a Dec. 11, 2025 video using Dec. 9, 2025 prices. The piece uses Stock Advisor's promotional performance figures — a reported 965% average total return versus 193% for the S&P 500 as of Dec. 8, 2025 — and illustrative examples that $1,000 into Netflix on Dec. 17, 2004 would have become $513,353 and $1,000 into Nvidia on Apr. 15, 2005 would have become $1,072,908. Disclosures in the article state Parkev Tatevosian, CFA and The Motley Fool have no positions in the mentioned stocks while also noting the author may receive affiliate compensation for promoting services, indicating potential marketing bias. Given the neutral sentiment score (0.0) and low market impact (0.1) signaled, the omission appears to be a product-selection decision favoring long-duration growth picks rather than a reflection of new PepsiCo fundamentals; no earnings, guidance, dividend changes, or valuation metrics for PEP are provided in the article to warrant an immediate position change.

Key Decisions for Investors

• Maintain a dividend-focused allocation to PepsiCo if income is the objective, because the article provides no new fundamental reason to sell or alter a PEP income position
• Do not treat omission from The Motley Fool's top-10 list as a standalone sell signal; the list reflects the service's growth-focused selections and is presented alongside promotional performance claims and affiliate disclosures
• Before changing exposure, wait for company-specific fundamental catalysts (earnings, guidance, dividend announcements) or independent analyst revisions and treat the Stock Advisor recommendation as marketing input rather than primary research