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This Comfort Food Giant Serves Up Consistent Cash Flow
Noah Zelvis
December 21, 2025
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Strong demand at two of America’s best-known casual dining brands drove higher sales and a more confident outlook.
It is a reminder that steady execution can still deliver growth, even as consumers stay selective.
Colorado’s Most-Awarded Brewery Did Something Totally Unique
Some companies make lofty promises to investors and never deliver. Others use those dollars to unlock new levels of scale.
That’s Westbound & Down’s story. Already Colorado’s most-awarded craft brewery, they opened their doors to investors for the first time to help open a flagship Denver-metro-area location.
With 2,800% distribution growth since 2019 and a retail partnership with Whole Foods, it’s no shock investors maxed out that campaign in less than 60 days.
But it’s what comes next that’s even more exciting. Fresh off Brewery of the Year honors at the 2025 Great American Beer Festival, W&D is scaling toward 4X distribution growth by 2028.
This is a paid advertisement for Westbound & Down’s Regulation CF Offering. Please read the offering circular at https://invest.westboundanddown.com/
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Retail
While Others Struggle, Target’s Digital Engine Keeps Compounding
Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) is no longer experimenting with online retail; it is building the company around it. With over $25 billion in quarterly sales, digital continues to grow even as broader retail demand stays uneven.
Inside the numbers, you are watching behavior change faster than headlines suggest. Online is no longer a channel for Target; it is the spine holding everything together.
Stores Turn Into Speed Machines
Years ago, Target made a bet most rivals hesitated to copy, converting stores into fulfillment hubs instead of building endless warehouses. Today, nearly 80% of U.S. households can access same-day delivery, and almost everyone qualifies for two-day shipping.
This reach changes how the business competes, because you are seeing logistics scale without crushing margins. Speed becomes a feature customers feel, not a cost investors fear.
AI Enters the Shopping Loop
Target is now layering generative AI directly into how people discover, choose, and buy products online. Shoppers will soon build carts, get recommendations, and complete purchases through conversational tools tied to real inventory.
That matters because, as you move through the experience, friction disappears instead of shifting elsewhere. Digital, logistics, ads, and AI are now reinforcing each other inside one system.
TGT currently trades at $96.90 and pays a dividend of $4.56 per share, a yield of 4.70%.
Pharma
Is AbbVie Rewriting the Pharma Pricing Playbook Before Washington Forces It?
AbbVie Inc. (NYSE: ABBV) is making a rare and deliberate shift in how it prices medicines in the United States, lowering the prices of select drugs under a most-favored-nation framework. This move pulls U.S. pricing closer to international levels, signaling a break from the industry’s long-standing reliance on domestic premiums.
Inside the company, you are watching a calculation that favors durability over resistance. Pricing pressure is no longer hypothetical, and AbbVie is choosing to adapt before rules force its hand.
Playing Offense With Policy
Rather than defending old models, AbbVie is repositioning itself for stability in a world where affordability drives access. By aligning with global pricing norms, the company reduces regulatory friction and strengthens its standing with large public health programs.
In practical terms, you get predictability instead of recurring policy battles. Volume certainty replaces pricing brinkmanship, which matters more as reimbursement scrutiny tightens.
Protecting the Growth Engine
This pricing shift does not weaken AbbVie’s long-term growth story. The company continues to invest aggressively in immunology, oncology, neuroscience, and next-generation therapies that extend well beyond legacy franchises.
By clearing pricing overhang now, you see management freeing bandwidth for execution. Innovation, pipeline delivery, and global expansion move forward without constant political drag.
ABBV currently trades at $226.00 and pays a dividend of $6.92 per share, a yield of 3.05%.
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Asset Management
Why a 7% Stake Says More Than a Press Release Ever Could
BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK) has formally disclosed a near-7 % ownership stake in Avadel Pharmaceuticals, and the size of the stake changes how the move should be read. Filings like this appear routine, but scale turns paperwork into strategy.
At this level, BlackRock is no longer a background holder. It is close enough to the company’s trajectory that you are looking at intentional positioning rather than passive exposure.
Why This Isn’t About Avadel Alone
BlackRock does not build stakes of this size for short-term trades. A position approaching 7% signals confidence in direction, execution, and long-term relevance within a specific healthcare niche.
More importantly, you see BlackRock aligning capital with themes it believes compound over time. Specialty pharma, rare disease focus, and targeted pipelines sit directly in that lane.
Influence Without the Spotlight
This move also reinforces how BlackRock operates at scale. Instead of control, it opts for influence, visibility, and flexibility, staying close to potential inflection points without forcing outcomes.
From a market perspective, you end up with institutional validation that management teams take seriously. When BlackRock shows up, size, stability, and credibility tend to follow.
Bottom line: This is BlackRock quietly expanding its reach in healthcare, placing capital where long-term relevance can compound without headlines.
BLK currently trades at $1,064 and pays a dividend of $20.84 per share, a yield of 1.96%.
Dividend Stocks Worth Watching
Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) is taxying into a leadership transition with President Glen Hauenstein announcing his retirement effective February 28, 2026. Hauenstein is widely credited with transforming Delta’s network and commercial approach, expanding its global footprint and pioneering a premium-focused revenue strategy that helped the carrier outperform peers on profitability and customer loyalty.
In an internal memo, CEO Ed Bastian praised Hauenstein's role in making Delta a leader in premium travel and building joint ventures and loyalty innovations that strengthened the airline's market position. Joe Esposito, a 35-year veteran of Delta, will assume expanded responsibilities as executive vice president and chief commercial officer, overseeing network planning, revenue, sales, and the SkyMiles program, ensuring continuity in Delta’s commercial strategy.
DAL’s 19-cent quarterly dividend yields 1.07%
Oracle Corp. (NYSE: ORCL) stock is up following a tumultuous few weeks after it was named a key U.S. partner in a proposed restructuring of TikTok's American operations. Under the plan, Oracle would play a central role in safeguarding U.S. user data and supporting the platform's technology infrastructure, addressing long-standing national security concerns.
The development reinforces Oracle’s growing importance in large-scale, data-intensive platforms and highlights how its cloud and infrastructure capabilities can benefit from regulatory and geopolitical shifts. For dividend investors, it adds another potential growth lever alongside Oracle’s established enterprise software and recurring revenue base.
ORCL pays a 15-cent dividend, yielding 1.11%.
Darden Restaurants (NYSE: DRI) has delivered solid Q2 FY2026 results, with strong consumer appetite at Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse driving higher sales and reinforcing the resilience of its casual dining portfolio. While earnings came in slightly below expectations, revenue growth exceeded forecasts and management raised its full-year sales outlook, signaling confidence in ongoing consumer demand and brand momentum.
The update highlights Darden’s ability to grow through disciplined pricing, operational consistency, and steady unit expansion, even in a more selective spending environment.
DRI pays a $1.50 quarterly dividend, yielding 3.11%.
Dividend Increases
THFF has increased its dividend to 56 cents, up 9.80%. Its new yield is 3.42%.
IVR has raised its dividend to 34 cents, a boost of 5.88%. Its new yield is 17.08%.
BEN has increased its dividend to 33 cents, a rise of 3.13%. Its new yield is 5.58%.
ABM has boosted its dividend to 29 cents, a growth of 9.43%. Its new yield is 2.62%.
Dividend Decreases
CFFN has cut its dividend to 4 cents, a 52.94% decline. Its new yield is 2.23%.
FCX has reduced its dividend to 7 cents, a decrease of 50.00%. Its new yield is 0.63%.
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Everything Else
Nike delivered better-than-expected Q2 FY26 earnings on Thursday. It comfortably topped Wall Street estimates but still found prices sliding more than 10% in pre-market trading on Friday due to concerns that it’s losing its stronghold in China.
Eli Lilly has filed for Food and Drug Administration approval of its daily GLP-1 pill, which it says can help people who have received obesity jabs maintain their weight loss without injections.
Ford is recalling more than a quarter of a million vehicles due to a park module failure, which could increase the risk of an accident.
Walmart continues to rapidly expand its presence in China with its 10th Sam’s Club store set to open in Guangzhou on Monday (December 22).
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