New Motley Fool Research Reveals the 10 Largest Consumer Staple Companies. Here's Which Dividend King Is Still Flying Under the Radar.

Everyone needs to eat and drink -- this simple truth has been a money-spinner for the most effective consumer staples companies traded on the stock exchange.

Recently, The Motley Fool updated its rankings for the top 10 largest consumer staples stocks by market capitalization. Several are justifiably popular, and enduringly so, with investors. However I feel one has been a bit neglected by Joe and Jill Investor.

Read on to find out which company, and learn why it's such an excellent addition to any stock portfolio.

Image source: Getty Images.

A giant portfolio

Let's crack open a can for that hard-to-beat enterprise, Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO). Now everyone's familiar with its signature drink, but many might not know that it's a bona fide beverage sector powerhouse.

After all, it owns and sells more than 200 brands, a monster lineup that includes not only colas like its signature drink but also fruit juice (Minute Maid), bottled water (Dasani), drink mixers (Schweppes club soda and tonic water), and -- in perfect alignment with current global tastes -- coffee (Costa, which also operates a chain of cafes).

Yet since Coca-Cola the company is most strongly associated with Coca-Cola the drink, more than a few people see it purely as a maker of unhealthy beverages. Such products are counter to the general societal move toward healthier consumption -- one reason why fast food restaurateurs like McDonald's have had to include healthier options on their menus in recent years.

So, no matter how many millions of bottles of waters or juices it sells, Coca-Cola will be forever linked to the ubiquitous sugary drink that bears its name.

Who needs the trend as a friend?

But that lack of trendiness sure isn't stopping Coca-Cola from being a long-term money maker that usually finds a way to grow key fundamentals. After a period of turmoil and adjustment in the 2010s, the company posted a big increase in annual revenue in 2021 and hasn't looked back since -- the metric has risen in every year since then, culminating in a $46.8 billion top line for 2024.

And in the modern era, Coca-Cola's highest and second-highest annual net profits occurred last year and in 2023, when it topped a dizzying $10 billion on the bottom line in both frames.

This is not only a heavily (and consistently) profitable business, it's also one that throws off vast piles of cash. Although Coca-Cola does expend some capital developing new products, drinks like its namesake and Minute Maid orange juice don't need much, or any, changing and refining (the company infamously attempted to reengineer Coca-Cola in the mid-1980s, with disastrous results).

The combination of limited costs and expenses and high revenue not only means lofty profits, but robust free cash flow. And robust cash flow means plenty of scratch to fund items like Coca-Cola's beloved dividend year after year, quarter after quarter.

Stock market royalty

In fact, Coca-Cola happens to be a Dividend King, one of the relative handful of U.S.-listed stocks that has enacted dividend raises at least once annually for 50 years running. With a 5% dividend raise in February (to an annualized $2.04 per share), this company's streak stands at 63. That's topped by a mere eight companies.

Coca-Cola's payout is also generous, to the point where it slots into the category of high-yield dividend. At the most recent closing share price said yield is over 3%, nearly triple the 1.2% average of S&P 500 index component stocks.

So even if it has a stumble or two fundamentally speaking (those tough days in the 2010s are still a vivid memory for some), it's sure to keep that shareholder payout bountiful. I'd bet on the company to extend that dividend raise streak, too.

Ultimately, then, what we have with Coca-Cola is a business that's guilty by association with an unhealthy drink but still delivers growth and high payouts for its investors. It might not be the most loved stock on the market, but it sure is a compelling buy, in my view.

Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.