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- The Obesity Trade Just Sent a Clear Message to Investors
The Obesity Trade Just Sent a Clear Message to Investors
Early signs of patient uptake have injected fresh momentum into the obesity trade, as a new pill begins to gain ground in the US.
The response highlights growing confidence that demand is expanding beyond injections, unlocking a broader and more durable growth story. Could this be your prescription for dividend income in 2026?
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Consumer Devices
After $73B in Losses, Meta Rewrites Its Vision for Virtual Worlds
Meta (NASDAQ: META) is making a clear and deliberate reset in its long-running metaverse strategy, scaling back parts of Reality Labs after years of heavy spending and slower-than-expected adoption. The company is cutting more than 1,000 roles inside the division, a move that follows roughly $73 billion in cumulative losses since 2021 and signals a sharper focus on where demand is actually forming.
Reality Labs was designed to carry Meta beyond social media, spanning VR headsets, AR glasses, and immersive digital environments. VR hardware shipments declined through 2025, and interest in fully immersive virtual worlds softened as users gravitated toward simpler, utility-driven tech.
The Metaverse Dream Gets a Reality Check
Meta is not walking away from immersive technology, but it is changing the rules. Big, standalone virtual worlds are no longer the centerpiece of the strategy.
If you have watched consumer tech cycles before, you recognize this moment. Adoption beats ambition every time.
Discipline Replaces Moonshots
This reset reflects a more disciplined approach to long-term bets. Capital and talent are being redirected toward platforms that can scale gradually, not all at once.
For anyone tracking Meta’s direction, the message is clear. You are looking at a company willing to course-correct rather than double down on assumptions that did not land.
META currently trades at $626 and pays a dividend of $2.10 per share, a yield of 0.34%.
Retail Operations
The Biggest Retailer in America Changes Its Mind on Automation
Walmart (NYSE: WMT) is making a quiet but meaningful operational shift across parts of its U.S. store network, scaling back self-checkout lanes and restoring staffed registers in select locations. After years of pushing automation as a cost and speed solution, the retailer is recalibrating its focus to execution, security, and customer flow.
Self-checkout expanded rapidly during the pandemic, when labor flexibility and minimal contact were most important. Over time, the model created new problems. What looked efficient on paper became messy on the floor.
The Machine Moment Ends Early
Walmart has begun removing self-checkout lanes in several states and redesigning front-end layouts. The company is no longer treating automation as universal. If you have watched one confused line turn into five stalled ones, you know how fast friction scales.
Staffed checkout gives Walmart better oversight, lower shrinkage, and more predictable throughput during peak hours. The company appears willing to accept slightly longer lines to regain stability.
Pragmatism Over Novelty
Automation is not gone; it is being used more selectively. Walmart is leaning on real store data, not tech hype, to decide what stays. For anyone tracking retail execution, you are watching Walmart do what it does best: adjust fast when reality changes.
The takeaway is simple. Walmart is optimizing for consistency, not flash, and that shift matters at its scale.
WMT currently trades at $118 and pays a dividend of $0.94 per share, a yield of 0.79%.
Gold Rush Ahead (Sponsored)
Gold makes up just 0.5% of U.S. household savings, well below its historical average of 2%.
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Pharmaceuticals
Merck Prepares Its Next Blockbuster Cycle
Merck (NYSE: MRK) is no longer treating the 2028 loss of exclusivity for Keytruda as a cliff event. The company is actively reframing it as a transition point, backed by a pipeline strategy designed to carry growth well beyond its current flagship.
Management now sees more than $70 billion in potential commercial opportunity from new medicines by the mid-2030s. That figure is meant to more than offset the gradual tapering of Keytruda and reset how the company thinks about scale, durability, and balance across its portfolio.
The Blockbuster After the Blockbuster
Merck is shifting from a single-engine model to a staggered launch cycle built around multiple late-stage assets. The goal is to avoid the revenue vacuum that often follows patent cliffs.
If you assumed Keytruda was irreplaceable, this pipeline math is meant to challenge that idea. The company is currently running close to 80 Phase III trials, with about half of the projected opportunity expected to be clinically de-risked by the end of 2026.
A Smoother Growth Curve
Rather than betting on one successor, Merck is building overlapping waves of launches across oncology and adjacent areas. This creates resilience if any single program underdelivers.
For anyone tracking long-term durability, you are watching Merck design a softer landing and a faster re-acceleration. The message is clear. Merck is planning for relevance after Keytruda, not reacting to its decline.
MRK currently trades at $109 and pays a dividend of $3.40 per share, a yield of 3.11%
Dividend Stocks Worth Watching
Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) beat Wall Street expectations with its Q4 2025 results, rounding out the year on a strong note as dealmaking activity and trading revenue picked up momentum. The earnings beat was driven by strength in investment banking and equity markets, signalling a healthier backdrop for capital markets into 2026.
Management struck an upbeat tone on the outlook, pointing to improving pipelines in mergers and underwriting alongside continued resilience in wealth management. Executives highlighted disciplined cost control and operating leverage as key supports for earnings growth as activity levels normalise.
The bank continues to balance growth with shareholder returns, maintaining its focus on dividends and buybacks. For income-focused investors, the results reinforced Morgan Stanley's position as a leveraged play on a recovering market environment with capital returns firmly in view.
MS pays a $1.00 quarterly dividend, yielding 2.08%.
Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) has announced a new partnership with Atlas to strengthen cancer care coordination for its Medicare Advantage members, as the insurer looks to improve outcomes while managing costs in one of healthcare’s most complex areas.
The collaboration will integrate Atlas's cancer care navigation platform into Humana's ecosystem, aiming to support patients through treatment decisions, provider selection, and ongoing care. Management positioned the move as a way to deliver more personalised support while reducing inefficiencies that often drive higher medical expenses.
For investors, the partnership fits neatly with Humana’s broader push toward value-based care and tighter medical cost control. As pressure on margins persists across Medicare Advantage, initiatives like this are increasingly central to protecting earnings durability and long-term shareholder returns.
HUM pays an 88-cent dividend, with a yield of 1.28%.
Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO) shares surged more than 8% on Friday after early prescription data pointed to a strong start for the US launch of the company’s new oral GLP-1 obesity pill. The initial numbers reassured investors that demand is extending beyond injectable treatments and gaining traction quickly in the critical American market.
The early uptake has been interpreted as a positive signal for longer-term revenue momentum, reinforcing confidence in the company’s obesity franchise. With prescriptions building sooner than expected, the market response reflects growing belief that the tablet version could meaningfully expand the addressable patient base and accelerate growth into 2026.
NVO pays a 30-cent dividend, yielding 1.90%.
Dividend Increases
BLK has increased its dividend to $5.73, up 9.98%. Its new yield is 1.98%.
GS has lifted its dividend to $4.50, an increase of 12.50%. Its new yield is 1.85%.
NWN has raised its dividend to $1.97, a 300.00% increase. Its new yield is 16.77%.
GEL has increased its dividend to 18 cents, a lift of 9.09%. Its new yield is 4.25%.
Dividend Decreases
MSA has cut its dividend to 53 cents, a 5.78% decline. Its new yield is 1.16%.
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Trivia: What does the “net” in net income mean? |
Upcoming Dividend Payers
HEI’s ex-dividend date for the forthcoming 12-cent payment is 01/20/26.
INGR’s ex-dividend date for the forthcoming 82-cent payment is 01/20/26.
CSCO’s ex-dividend date for the forthcoming 41-cent payment is 01/21/26.
MTCH’s ex-dividend date for the forthcoming 19-cent payment is 01/21/26.
Everything Else
Comcast Subsidiary NBCUniversal is warming up for yet another ‘Legendary February’. It will broadcast the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics and the Super Bowl, followed by the NBA All-Star Game.
A Senate Report Committee has accused UnitedHealth of using aggressive tactics to increase Medicare reimbursement.
Walmart has announced a series of leadership changes as the world’s largest retailer fine-tunes its management team to support long-term growth priorities.
The Dutch semiconductor manufacturer ASML hit a $522 billion market cap on Friday, just 24 hours after Morgan Stanley analysts tipped it to gain 70%.
The CEO of Google’s DeepMind research lab, Demis Hassabis, says China's AI models are now just a few months behind US capabilities.
That’s all for today’s edition of the Dividend Brief.
Thanks for reading, and if you have any feedback or dividend stocks you want me to take a look at, just reply to this email!
—Noah Zelvis
DividendBrief.com