Charity Portfolio: McDonald's, PepsiCo or Realty Income? The Community Picks the First Stock

Today it really kicks off with the community dividend charity portfolio: together we're choosing the first stock for the first purchase. Up for the vote are McDonald's, PepsiCo and Realty Income – the three stocks you suggested most often in the comments. In this article I compare the three candidates with all the important key figures, and at the end it's your turn: your vote decides which stock makes it into the portfolio first.

If you don't know the project yet: in the announcement article I presented the concept in detail. In short: every month I invest €1,000 of my own money – that's now fixed – the community decides on the stocks, and the dividends from the portfolio are donated. Where to, we also decide together.

As always, the most important note up front: this is not investment advice and not a buy recommendation. I only ever share my personal opinion and my personal investments. I'm responsible for my money, you're responsible for yours – always make your own decision.

The top 3 from your comments

First of all, thanks for the countless comments with stock suggestions under the announcement video – a lot really came together. To keep an overview, I had all the suggestions evaluated by AI. The result:

1. Realty Income – named five times
2. McDonald's – also named five times
3. PepsiCo – named four times

Interesting: they're three US companies from completely different areas – cyclical consumer goods, consumer staples and real estate. By market capitalisation, McDonald's is slightly ahead of PepsiCo, with Realty Income following well behind. And all three are genuine dividend stocks.

The three candidates compared

I lined up the three stocks side by side in the stock screener. A quick note for anyone who doesn't know the companies yet: McDonald's is the world's largest fast-food company – and through its network of restaurants effectively also a huge real estate company. PepsiCo is known for Pepsi, but the company also owns countless snack brands like Lay's and Doritos. Realty Income is a real estate REIT focused on commercial property, mainly in the US: it leases retail space to chains like 7-Eleven or Walgreens.

McDonald's: the dividend aristocrat with price potential

• Dividend yield: 2.79% – the lowest in the trio, but with a quarterly payout
• Dividend history: raised every year for 50 years, on average by 7.99% per year over the last 10 years – the strongest growth of the three
• Payout ratio: 74.5%
• Growth: earnings +8.62% per year on a 10-year average, revenue by contrast only +1.18%
• Valuation: the P/E is currently 21.3 versus 23.5 on a 10-year average – around 10% undervalued. Analyst price targets are even 23.4% above the current price
• Chart: at the end of February there was still a record high, and it's gone down decently since then – in my main portfolio I'm accordingly well underwater with McDonald's and still bought more recently (or precisely because of that)

PepsiCo: the most undervalued

• Dividend yield: 4.23% with a quarterly payout
• Dividend history: raised every year for 54 years – the longest streak of the three candidates, with an average 7.23% increase per year
• Payout ratio: 84.8% – already quite high
• Growth: earnings +5.9% per year, revenue +4.67% on a 10-year average
• Valuation: P/E currently 16.3 versus 21.9 on a 10-year average – almost 30% undervaluation, the largest in the comparison. Analyst price target: +13.9%
• Chart: the stock has slid sharply since February, from around 170 to about 135 US dollars – here too I'm currently 8 to 9% in the red in my main portfolio

Realty Income: the monthly payer with the highest yield

• Dividend yield: 4.98% – the highest in the trio, and as a REIT Realty Income even pays out monthly
• Dividend history: raised every year for 31 years, though with a moderate 3.25% increase per year
• Payout ratio: 74.7% – as a REIT the company is obliged to pay out most of its profits anyway
• Growth: earnings +4.9% per year, and revenue grew most strongly of all three at an impressive 19.94% per year
• Valuation: for a REIT you look at adjusted FFO instead of the classic P/E: currently 15 versus 17.4 on a 10-year average – a good 15% undervalued. Analysts, however, only see 4.3% price potential
• Chart: still far from its all-time high, but relatively stable recently – in my main portfolio the position is around 10 to 11% in profit, and Realty Income is even my largest dividend payer so far there

How to vote

For me, all three stocks actually belong in this portfolio permanently – but the first purchase goes into one stock with the full €1,000. And you decide that:

• On YouTube: under the video you'll find a separate comment from me for each stock. A like on the comment = one vote for the stock. The vote runs about two to three days.
• On Instagram: a 24-hour poll runs in parallel in my story on @FinanzLennard.

Both results are added up at the end – the winner will be the first position in the charity portfolio. Feel free to also write in the comments which of the three stocks you find most exciting: it also helps the algorithm so even more people discover the project.

What happens next

As soon as the vote is over, there'll be a short update video, and we'll buy the winning stock together – the first position in the community charity portfolio. The portfolio is already shared publicly via Parqet*, by the way: at finlen.de/spenden-depot you can look in at any time – currently it's still empty, of course, but that changes in a few days.

You'll find all articles on the project collected in the Charity Portfolio category here on the blog – the kickoff with all the rules is in the announcement article. Now it's your turn: vote, and we'll see each other again at the first purchase.

Update: the community has decided

The vote is now over – McDonald's won: since 27 July 2026, the first five shares are in the charity portfolio. And it continued right away: a second position has since been added too. You can see the current status with all purchases live at any time at finlen.de/spenden-depot: