3 Relentless Dividend Stocks to Buy in September

The article highlights eBay, McDonald's, and Constellation Brands as dividend-growth opportunities, citing five-year annual dividend-growth rates of 12%, 7%, and 6%, respectively. eBay reported 15% Q2 revenue growth and 26% growth in consumer-to-consumer, pre-owned, and refurbished GMV, supported by AI listing tools and the Depop acquisition. McDonald's offers a 3.0% forward yield despite shares falling 17% over the past year, while Constellation's 3.38% yield follows a 55% decline from its 2024 high amid soft beer demand.

Analysis

EBAY's investable question is whether recent growth reflects durable marketplace liquidity or a temporary mix/take-rate benefit. Incremental seller tools can improve listing conversion and ad attach, creating operating leverage because marketplace fixed costs scale slowly; the more relevant read-through is GMV ex-FX, active-seller growth, ad revenue growth, and transaction-loss rates over the next two quarters. If those metrics hold, EBAY can sustain a premium to other mature online marketplaces such as ETSY; if growth is acquisition-led or take-rate-led, the multiple expansion is vulnerable.

MCD's weakness creates a more interesting defensive relative-value setup than a standalone dividend thesis. Its franchise economics insulate restaurant-level labor and food inflation, but the corporate P&L remains exposed to slower franchisee unit economics, which can delay development and remodel spending. A reacceleration in traffic rather than ticket is the key 1-3 month catalyst; absent that, a high valuation plus interest-rate sensitivity can keep the shares range-bound despite reliable cash returns.

STZ has asymmetric headline risk that the income framing understates: its concentrated Mexican beer sourcing leaves earnings and valuation sensitive to tariff rhetoric, border logistics, FX, and any moderation in Hispanic consumer demand. Conversely, a stable policy backdrop and volume stabilization could drive a sharp rerating from depressed expectations over 6-12 months, with beer-margin resilience more important than aggregate U.S. beer-market growth. The reported payout capacity is not itself a catalyst; investors need evidence that depletion trends and distributor inventories are normalizing.

Key Decisions for Investors

• Initiate a 3-6 month long EBAY / short ETSY pair only after confirming two consecutive quarters of positive GMV ex-FX and advertising growth; target 10-15% relative upside with a 7% relative stop. The thesis fails if seller growth or take rate decelerates materially after integration spending.
• Keep MCD on a watchlist rather than buying solely for yield. Add on evidence of U.S. traffic recovery and maintained franchisee cash-on-cash returns at the next earnings release; upside is a return to defensive-quality valuation, while a further cut to unit-development expectations is the falsifier.
• Accumulate STZ in tranches over 1-3 months, sized below normal consumer-staples exposure, and hedge policy risk with puts or a partial long TAP hedge. Target a 12-18 month normalization trade; exit if beer depletions turn negative for two quarters, distributor inventory rises, or U.S.-Mexico tariff action becomes concrete.
• Avoid treating the cited dividend-growth rates as a standalone signal across all three names. Monitor net debt/EBITDA, buyback pacing, and free-cash-flow conversion at each earnings report; capital-return support weakens quickly if management preserves dividends by curtailing growth investment or increasing leverage.