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 risk. Altria raised its quarterly dividend 4.7% to $1.11 and expects tobacco-export manufacturing to begin in early 2027, enabling excise-tax rebates, though its Njoy Ace vape product remains off shelves following a patent ruling. Kraft Heinz maintained its $0.40 quarterly dividend and redirected roughly $700 million toward brands after pausing its planned split, including a multiyear Disney partnership intended to improve relevance and sales visibility for 10 brands.

Analysis

MO's upside hinges on whether the export arrangement produces recurring excise-tax recovery materially above its incremental manufacturing, logistics, and transfer-pricing costs. The market is likely to capitalize any benefit as a one-off financial-engineering gain until management discloses annualized cash impact, contractual duration, and capacity utilization; a $0.10-$0.15/share recurring FCF contribution would matter, while a sub-$0.05 contribution would not offset continued domestic-volume and reduced-risk-product uncertainty. The greater tail risk is policy: a visible tax-arbitrage structure can invite legislative or Treasury reinterpretation, creating an asymmetric reversal risk over 6-18 months.

KHC's brand-investment pivot should not be valued as a volume catalyst until it improves measured household penetration, velocity, or gross-margin mix. Disney-linked placements are more plausibly a high-cost customer-acquisition and licensing channel than a scalable grocery-shelf solution; incremental sales can be economically dilute after promotional spend, royalty payments, and food-service margins. Over the next 1-3 months, the key issue is whether the market treats the dividend as a bond substitute despite a structurally challenged organic-growth profile; with long-duration Treasuries offering a competitive risk-free alternative, even modest guidance disappointment can drive multiple compression.

DIS is the quiet relative beneficiary if consumer-product licensing and park food partnerships monetize its IP with minimal capital intensity, but the financial effect is unlikely to move consolidated estimates. The contrarian view is that neither high yield is automatically a value signal: MO needs a verifiable cash-flow bridge beyond price/mix, while KHC needs evidence that brand spending earns returns above its cost of capital. Absent those data points, the appropriate trade is selective relative value rather than outright yield chasing.

Key Decisions for Investors

• Watch MO for a 1-3 month disclosure catalyst: initiate a tactical long only if management quantifies annual tax-related FCF at at least $0.10/share and reiterates dividend coverage. Target 8-12% total return including carry; exit if the benefit is characterized as immaterial, nonrecurring, or subject to unresolved tax review.
• Avoid adding KHC solely for yield ahead of the next earnings update. Require evidence of improving organic sales volume and stable gross margin after incremental brand spending; a guidance cut or further impairment risk would justify a short bias versus XLP over the following 3-6 months.
• Consider a market-neutral long MO / short KHC pair over 3-6 months, sized modestly: MO has a potentially identifiable FCF catalyst, while KHC's spending program faces a longer and less measurable payoff period. Falsify if MO's reduced-risk-product outlook deteriorates further or KHC reports sustained volume acceleration without margin erosion.
• Do not treat DIS as a direct read-through trade. Set an alert for segment disclosures showing consumer-products/licensing growth accelerating materially; without that, the partnership is too small relative to DIS's parks, streaming, and linear-TV earnings drivers.