Opinion: AbbVie Is the Best Dividend King to Buy in an Increasingly Uncertain Market

Let's face it: We live in uncertain times. There's no clear end in sight to the war with Iran. Fuel prices seem likely to remain elevated for a while, likely pushing the costs of a wide range of products higher. Artificial intelligence (AI) is already disrupting some jobs. Some predict a much greater impact of AI on the job market over the next few years.

What should investors do? Buying Dividend Kings, stocks that have increased their dividends for at least 50 consecutive years, has been a pretty good strategy in the past during turbulent periods. However, choosing from the 57 stocks that qualify for the elite group could be challenging. In my opinion, one Dividend King is the best pick to buy in an increasingly uncertain market: AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV).

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Ideal for uncertain times

Dividend stocks with long track records of dividend increases tend to have stable underlying businesses. That's definitely the case with AbbVie. The company has been in business since 1888, although it was part of Abbott Labs (NYSE: ABT) until being spun off in 2013. AbbVie has increased its dividend for 53 consecutive years.

During uncertain times, investors usually prefer defensive stocks. Pharmaceutical stocks fit the bill well. Physicians won't stop prescribing medications, and patients won't stop taking them, because the stock market is choppy.

One risk for pharma stocks, though, is the potential for their top products to lose patent exclusivity. The good news for AbbVie is that it has already successfully navigated a huge patent cliff with Humira, which ranked as the world's top-selling drug for several years.

AbbVie is now arguably one of the least risky big pharma stocks on the market. Its two successors to Humira, Rinvoq and Skyrizi, already generate higher combined sales than Humira did at its peak. The company's acquisitions have added additional growth drivers to its portfolio, including the antipsychotic drug Vraylar and the migraine therapies Qulipta and Ubrelvy.

How AbbVie stacks up against other Dividend Kings

Could other Dividend Kings also be good picks right now? Sure. However, I think AbbVie stacks up well against its peers.

For one thing, many Dividend Kings don't offer dividend yields that are all that kingly. Walmart (NASDAQ: WMT) is a great defensive stock, but its yield is paltry at 0.74% compared to AbbVie's over 3.2%.

Some Dividend Kings sport lofty valuations. Walmart's shares trade at 44 times forward earnings. Gorman-Rupp's (NYSE: GRC) forward earnings multiple is 28. Meanwhile, AbbVie's forward price-to-earnings ratio is 14.7, well below the healthcare sector's multiple of 16.8.

Other Dividend Kings don't generate much growth. As a case in point, Hormel Foods (NYSE: HRL) delivered year-over-year revenue growth of only 2% in the first quarter of 2026. AbbVie's revenue jumped 12.4% year over year in Q1. The company also expects to continue growing robustly at least through the end of the decade. With a pipeline that's chock-full of promising programs in Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical testing, I think AbbVie will deliver solid growth into the next decade and beyond.

AbbVie's growth prospects are what set the company apart from the rest of the Dividend Kings, in my view. It's well-positioned if the stock market sinks, given its stable business. However, AbbVie should perform well in a booming market, given its growth potential.

A Dividend King for nearly every type of investor

AbbVie's dividend yield and impressive track record of dividend increases should appeal to income investors. Its valuation could look intriguing to value investors. And while AbbVie isn't a textbook growth stock, it's poised to deliver solid long-term growth. In increasingly uncertain times, AbbVie is the kind of stock most investors would like to have in their portfolios.

Keith Speights has positions in AbbVie. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends AbbVie, Abbott Laboratories, and Walmart. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.