Grocery store stocks have had a choppy year. Tariff pressure, shoppers trading down to store brands, and years of underinvestment at some companies have pushed several big consumer goods names down double digits in 2026, even as the broader market sits near records.
A falling stock isn’t always a cheap business; sometimes it’s cheap because it deserves to be. A few of these names are paying you a real dividend to find out which kind of cheap this is, and patient investors who can hold through some uncomfortable years could come out ahead.
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Here are five consumer-facing stocks trading near 52-week lows, each dealing with its own version of the slump, and why I think the dividend makes the wait worth it.
1. PepsiCo: An activist is forcing the change it needed anyway
PepsiCo (NASDAQ: PEP) trades around $129, near its 52-week low of $123.47 and down sharply from a high above $171. The dividend yields roughly 4.6% and has been raised for 54 straight years, making it a Dividend King, a company that has grown its dividend payment annually for at least 50 consecutive years.
What changed this year: Elliott Management took a $4 billion stake and pushed PepsiCo into a formal agreement to cut its U.S. product lineup by roughly 20%, lower prices on core brands, and overhaul its North American supply chain. I see this less as weakness and more as outside pressure forcing moves management should have made years ago. If these cuts pay off, the next five years should see some juicy solid reversal in the stock price.
2. Hershey: Cocoa is back!
Hershey (NYSE: HSY) stock sits around $169, off its 52-week low of $156, yielding about 3.6%. Cocoa prices have fallen from last year’s peak, and Hershey is using the relief to bring Reese’s and Hershey’s bars back to their original recipes after trimming cocoa content during the spike, per News Nation. Management guides to 30%-35% adjusted earnings growth this year, among the boldest forecasts in food, per the Wall Street Journal. If earnings can turn around with cocoa prices being more manageable, this stock is a solid dividend buy.
3. General Mills: A 127-year streak with no cuts
General Mills’ (NYSE: GIS) share price has fallen around 30% in 2026 and sits near its 52-week low of $31.18, pushing the yield above 7.5%. The company and its predecessor have paid an uninterrupted dividend for 127 years, since 1898, and have never cut it, even though there have been multi-year stretches without a raise. Volume has been soft as shoppers trade down, but management says fiscal 2027 shifts focus to real product innovation, think protein and fiber additions, rather than just defending price.
