The past doesn’t predict the future. But if a company has been paying dividends for a long time, that can give investors confidence in its ability to continue doing so. It demonstrates that the company can weather a lot of adversity and innovate and launch new products to meet changing demand. Those are key characteristics investors will want to see when considering long-term investments.

Three stocks that have not only been around for a century but have also been paying dividends for that long are Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO), Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY), and Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT). Here’s why these can be some of the safest stocks you can add to your portfolio today.

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Coca-Cola has an iconic brand that’s known all around the world. It’s a top Warren Buffett holding, and a big reason for that is its strong brand power. Its products are found in millions of households, across hundreds of countries. While the company is known for its Coke products, it has evolved over the years and now has more than 200 brands, branching out beyond just soft drinks and into coffee, tea, and water.

The company has created no-sugar products to meet changing customer demand, and it has also expanded via acquisitions. Coca-Cola may not be the growth machine it once was, but it’s still a reliable business to invest in. It has generated $10.4 billion in profit over the past four quarters on sales of $46.4 billion, for a profit margin of 22%.

Coca-Cola has paid a dividend going back to 1893. Today, it’s part of an exclusive club of Dividend Kings, which have increased their dividend payments for more than 50 straight years. Its dividend yields 3%, and if your priority is to generate a safe and recurring dividend, Coca-Cola may be an ideal stock to put into your portfolio right now.

Eli Lilly is a hot growth stock to buy, as investors are bullish on its prospects in the weight loss market. The company has an incredibly promising product in tirzepatide, which regulators have approved for diabetes treatment (Mounjaro) and weight loss (Zepbound). At its peak, tirzepatide may be the best-selling drug ever, with some analysts projecting that its annual revenue will eventually top more than $50 billion.

To put into perspective just how massive that is, consider that Eli Lilly generated $34 billion in sales last year — from all of its products. With so much excitement surrounding Eli Lilly’s potential, it’s little wonder that the healthcare stock has risen by more than 200% in just the past three years.

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Disney (DIS) on Thursday reported fiscal fourth quarter earnings per share and revenue that topped Wall Street estimates as its direct-to-consumer business built on recent momentum and swung to a profit.

The company reported Q4 adjusted earnings of $1.14 per share, above the $1.10 analysts polled by Bloomberg had expected and higher than the $0.82 Disney reported in the prior-year period.

Revenue came in at $22.57 billion, exceeding consensus expectations for $22.47 billion and higher than the $21.24 billion reported in the year-ago period.

The stock rose over 5% in premarket trading immediately following the results.

Disney’s direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming business, which includes Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+, posted operating income of $321 million for the three months ending Sept. 28, compared to a loss of $387 million in the prior-year period.

Analysts polled by Bloomberg had expected DTC operating income to come in around $203 million after the company reached its first quarter of streaming profitability in its Q3 results.

Achieving consistent profits in streaming is critical for Disney and other media giants as more consumers shift to DTC services over traditional pay-TV packages.

In mid-October, the company hiked the price of its various subscription plans, highlighting a trend that has gained traction over the past year as media companies attempt to boost margins on direct-to-consumer (DTC) offerings in the face of greater linear television declines.

Disney said Thursday that it expects DTC operating income of approximately $875 million in fiscal 2025.

The entertainment giant’s results come as it searches for a successor to current CEO Bob Iger to help it navigate a changing industry. A recent report from the Wall Street Journal said the pool of candidates is expanding as the executive is set to leave Disney for a second time by the end of 2026.

Last month, Disney said it plans to announce its next CEO in early 2026, with current Disney board member and former Morgan Stanley (MS) CEO James Gorman leading the charge. He will serve as the company’s new chairman of the board, effective Jan. 2, 2025.

Among the investor concerns Iger’s successor will inherit is a potential slowdown in Disney’s theme parks business.

Revenue for the parks division came in slightly ahead of estimates, rising 1% year over year to reach $8.24 billion.

Operating income, however, fell short of expectations of $2.31 billion to hit $1.66 billion in the quarter, a 6% drop compared to the prior year.

This was primarily driven by weak results overseas with international operating income plummeting 32% year over year. The company cited a decline in attendance and a decrease in guest spending amid the Paris Olympics and a typhoon in Shanghai.

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In one bright spot, domestic operating income rose 5% compared to the prior-year period, reversing the declines seen in the third quarter. The company estimated that Hurricanes Helene and Milton will register a hit of about $130 million for the current quarter, while the Disney cruise line pre-launches will tack on an additional $90 million.

Disney said it expects “high single-digit” adjusted EPS growth in 2025, beating estimates of a 4% uptick, and that earnings growth should reach double digits in 2026 and continue through 2027.

In 2025, the company is also targeting $3 billion in stock repurchases and “dividend growth that tracks our earnings growth.”

Alexandra Canal is a Senior Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X @allie_canal, LinkedIn, and email her at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com.

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Even if an investor starts from a relatively large base, achieving a $1 million net worth in the stock market is a challenging feat. If one finds a stock on track for massive gains in a shorter period, like a year, forecasting such growth and sustaining it over a long period of time is quite another matter.

Fortunately, the market offers innovative stocks set to benefit from such trends. Admittedly, the market offers no guarantees, but given their pace of innovation and the pace of growth expected to follow, one stands a reasonable probability of achieving such returns in these three stocks.

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Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) has impressed investors with massive growth, as its release of the Model 3 and Model Y showed that a mass-market electric vehicle could not only become popular among consumers, but help Tesla achieve considerable growth and profitability.

Fortunately for investors, Tesla has not finished innovating, and its artificial intelligence (AI)-driven self-driving technology could spark the next wave of stock price growth. It just released its Cybercab, its upcoming self-driving vehicle, estimating it can grow production to 2 million units annually by 2026.

Additionally, Tesla expects to offer this technology as a sort of self-driving platform-as-a-service offering. Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest believes that could take its stock to $2,600 per share, a roughly eightfold gain in five years, as self-driving technology eventually drives the majority of Tesla’s revenue growth.

As of now, Tesla stock is on the road to recovery, having more than tripled from a multiyear low of just over $100 per share in early 2023. Indeed, the recent P/E ratio of 88 may seem elevated. However, if Ark Invest is right about self-driving technology becoming the company’s primary revenue driver, that premium may be a small price to pay for Tesla’s growth potential.

When it comes to the AI chip market, a semiconductor stock like Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) may seem like an afterthought. After all, the company’s revenue had declined in recent quarters, and with the 5G upgrade cycle having run its course, it appeared poised for a pullback.

However, AI has given consumers a new reason to buy a smartphone, and Qualcomm stands ready to provide AI capabilities with its Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and Elite Mobile Platform. Also, it continues to beat the competition as companies like Apple attempt to develop a superior product, only to sign back up with the company.

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