This week in Safety Net, we’re highlighting a company with a decent dividend that is unlikely to be cut in the future. In fact, it’s more likely to be increased than be cut.
With everything going on in the world, it’s getting increasingly hard to find stocks that have stayed strong in this uncertain market. Yet as of this writing, while the S&P 500 has lost 5% of its value in 2026, this week’s stock has steadily grown by almost 10%.
That stock is Restaurant Brands International (NYSE: QSR).
The company formed in 2014 when Burger King and Tim Hortons merged under the new name and ticker symbol, with “QSR” standing for “quick-service restaurant.” Today, the company owns the Burger King, Tim Hortons, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, and Firehouse Subs franchises.
It pains me to potentially review Burger King in a favorable light (it was my first job at age 16), and I think the breakfast and coffee at Tim Hortons are terrible. But I can’t deny that, as a whole, the company looks pretty good on paper.
Restaurant Brands steadily increased its free cash flow from $1.2 billion in 2023 to $1.45 billion in 2025. Bloomberg expects this trend to continue, as it projects the company to add another $300 million to its reserves by the end of the year.
Currently, the company touts a $0.65 quarterly dividend, which comes out to a respectable 3.5% yield. The best thing about the dividend, though, is that it has grown every year since it was initiated in 2015.
As you can see in the chart below, the company has increased the dividend at different rates throughout the past decade. Regardless, the annual dividend per share continues to rise, which is a huge boon for the company’s investors.
The only thing that I can knock Restaurant Brands on is its dividend payout ratio. In 2025, the payout ratio was 76.5%, which is above our threshold of 75%. The company just barely missed the mark there, so we’ll have to mark it down one letter grade.
Fortunately, because the company has increased its dividend every year for the past 10 years with no cuts, the negative mark it got for the dividend payout ratio is canceled out.
Overall, Restaurant Brands’ free cash flow is increasing steadily, its dividends have only gone up since 2016, and it already increased its dividend again last month.
The company’s dividend appears to be as trustworthy as its famed Popeyes Chicken Sandwich.
Dividend Safety Rating: A
What stock’s dividend safety would you like me to analyze next? Leave the ticker in the comments section.
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