Key Points
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All five companies pay regular dividends and are mid-project on something that should matter more in 2031 than it does today.
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Dick’s and McCormick carry the most near-term risk because both are integrating large acquisitions.
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The strategy is to invest $1,000 in each, reinvest the dividends, and ignore quarterly noise for five years.
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There is a certain kind of investor who checks their portfolio every morning, and this article is not for them. I’m (truthfully) one of those people, and I know how easy it is to turn constant checking into constant stress.
These five stocks are for the person who wants to buy a handful of good businesses, let the dividends pile up, and not think about it again for years. The best stocks for that job are companies in the middle of doing something right now: opening a new restaurant brand, absorbing an acquisition, building out a service customers cannot easily leave. Those moves will matter far more in 2031 than they do today. The five consumer names below each have a specific project underway that a patient investor can simply let run. Put $1,000 in each, forget about it, and come back in five years.
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1. Williams-Sonoma
Williams-Sonoma (NYSE: WSM) raised its quarterly dividend 15% in March to $0.76 per share, and the business behind it is doing the rare thing of growing through a frozen housing market. In the quarter ended Aug. 2, every one of its brands, from Pottery Barn to West Elm to the namesake kitchen stores, posted higher comparable sales, and the company raised its full-year outlook.Management attributes the growth to taking share from competitors and to its business-to-business arm that furnishes hotels and offices. With $1 billion in cash and almost no stores being added, this is a company compounding on execution rather than expansion.
2. Texas Roadhouse
Texas Roadhouse (NASDAQ: TXRH) pays $0.75 a quarter and planned to open roughly 35 company-owned restaurants in 2026 across three brands: the flagship steakhouse, Bubba’s 33, and Jaggers, its fast-casual chicken concept. That third brand is what makes this a five-year hold to me. Jaggers is still small, which means the company has a growth engine that most of the market is not pricing in yet, funded by one of the most reliable casual-dining businesses in the country. Texas Roadhouse has roughly 700 steakhouses but only a few dozen Jaggers, so if the chicken concept proves it can scale, it adds a second decade of unit growth.
3. Tractor Supply
Tractor Supply (NASDAQ: TSCO) operates 2,463 stores plus 209 Petsense locations, and its dividend is $0.24 a quarter after a stock split. What makes it a 2031 story is the way it has been building out services around the animals its customers own. It now includes Allivet, an online pet pharmacy, and VIP Petcare, the largest mobile veterinary provider in the U.S., in its family of brands. A retailer that sells you the dog food, fills the prescription, and gives the shots is hard to shop around.
4. Dick’s Sporting Goods
Dick’s Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS) is my somewhate contrarian pick. It pays $1.25 a quarter, or $5 a year, and its core business grew comparable sales 4.9% last quarter, helped by the World Cup. The stock has been punished because the Foot Locker chain it bought in 2025 is still losing money, and management has closed 67 unproductive stores so far. But Dick’s now has 41 House of Sport locations, 52 Field House stores, and GameChanger, a youth sports app, all of which were working before Foot Locker arrived. If the integration succeeds by 2031, today’s price will look like a gift.
5. McCormick
McCormick (NYSE: MKC) has paid a dividend for 102 consecutive years, currently $0.48 a quarter. In March it agreed to combine with the food business of Unilever (NYSE: UL), creating a flavor company with about $20 billion in revenue when the deal closes in mid-2027. The company says integration planning is on track, with the future leadership team already named. Mergers this size carry real risk, but for a five-year holder, buying the spice company before it becomes the sauce-and-condiment giant is the point.
None of these five is a high-yield stock, and all of them face consumers who are watching their spending. Dick’s and McCormick, in particular, have integration risks that could take a year or two to resolve. But each one is executing a plan that does not depend on the next quarter, and each one pays you to wait.
Buy all five, reinvest the dividends, and check back in 2031.
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Micah Zimmerman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Texas Roadhouse, Tractor Supply, and Williams-Sonoma. The Motley Fool recommends McCormick and recommends the following options: short October 2026 $35 calls on Tractor Supply. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
