Sectors & IndustriesConsumer Defensive

Best Consumer Staple Stocks to Buy Now (2025)

Top consumer staple stocks in 2025 ranked by overall Due Diligence Score. See the best consumer staple stocks to buy now, according to analyst forecasts for the consumer defensive sector.

According to Zen Ratings, our proprietary rating system that evaluates 115 factors proven to drive growth in stocks and assigns each stock in our system an overall letter grade as well as 7 individual Component Grades for Value, Growth, Momentum, Sentiment, Safety, Financials, and proprietary AI algorithms, the 3 best consumer staple stocks to buy right now are:

Natures Sunshine Products (NASDAQ:NATR) is the #1 top consumer staple stock out of 254 with a Zen Rating of A. Stocks with a rating of A have had an average return of +32.52% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for Natures Sunshine Products (NASDAQ:NATR) is: Value: B, Growth: C, Momentum: C, Sentiment: A, Safety: C, Financials: B, and AI: C.

Natures Sunshine Products (NASDAQ:NATR) has a Due Diligence Score of 36, which is 5 points higher than the consumer staple sector average of 31. It passed 14 out of 38 due diligence checks and has average fundamentals. Natures Sunshine Products has seen its stock return 20.28% over the past year, overperforming other consumer staple stocks by 55 percentage points.

Natures Sunshine Products has an average 1 year price target of $20.50, an upside of 24.32% from Natures Sunshine Products's current stock price of $16.49.

Natures Sunshine Products stock has a consensus Strong Buy recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 2 analysts covering Natures Sunshine Products, 100% have issued a Strong Buy rating, 0% have issued a Buy, 0% have issued a Hold, while 0% have issued a Sell rating, and 0% have issued a Strong Sell.

American Public Education (NASDAQ:APEI) is the #2 top consumer staple stock out of 254 with a Zen Rating of A. Stocks with a rating of A have had an average return of +32.52% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for American Public Education (NASDAQ:APEI) is: Value: C, Growth: B, Momentum: B, Sentiment: B, Safety: C, Financials: B, and AI: C.

American Public Education (NASDAQ:APEI) has a Due Diligence Score of 51, which is 20 points higher than the consumer staple sector average of 31. It passed 16 out of 33 due diligence checks and has strong fundamentals. American Public Education has seen its stock return 132% over the past year, overperforming other consumer staple stocks by 167 percentage points.

American Public Education has an average 1 year price target of $35.67, a downside of -0.81% from American Public Education's current stock price of $35.96.

American Public Education stock has a consensus Strong Buy recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 6 analysts covering American Public Education, 50% have issued a Strong Buy rating, 33.33% have issued a Buy, 16.67% have issued a Hold, while 0% have issued a Sell rating, and 0% have issued a Strong Sell.

Afya (NASDAQ:AFYA) is the #3 top consumer staple stock out of 254 with a Zen Rating of A. Stocks with a rating of A have had an average return of +32.52% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for Afya (NASDAQ:AFYA) is: Value: A, Growth: C, Momentum: C, Sentiment: B, Safety: C, Financials: B, and AI: B.

Afya (NASDAQ:AFYA) has a Due Diligence Score of 42, which is 11 points higher than the consumer staple sector average of 31. It passed 16 out of 38 due diligence checks and has strong fundamentals. Afya has seen its stock lose -4.26% over the past year, overperforming other consumer staple stocks by 31 percentage points.

Afya has an average 1 year price target of $19.17, an upside of 20.24% from Afya's current stock price of $15.94.

Afya stock has a consensus Strong Buy recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 3 analysts covering Afya, 66.67% have issued a Strong Buy rating, 0% have issued a Buy, 33.33% have issued a Hold, while 0% have issued a Sell rating, and 0% have issued a Strong Sell.

Out of 84 consumer staple stocks that have issued dividends in the past year, the 3 consumer staple stocks with the highest dividend yields are:

New Oriental Education & Technology Group (NYSE:EDU) has an annual dividend yield of N/A, which is N/A percentage points lower than the consumer staple sector average of 2.79%. New Oriental Education & Technology Group's dividend payout is stable, having never dropped by more than 10% in the last 10 years. New Oriental Education & Technology Group's dividend has shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

New Oriental Education & Technology Group's dividend payout ratio of 27.3% indicates that its dividend yield is sustainable for the long-term.

B&G Foods (NYSE:BGS) has an annual dividend yield of 12.56%, which is 10 percentage points higher than the consumer staple sector average of 2.79%. B&G Foods's dividend payout is not stable, having dropped more than 10% one times in the last 10 years. B&G Foods's dividend has not shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

B&G Foods's dividend payout ratio of -26.9% indicates that its high dividend yield might not be sustainable for the long-term.

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) has an annual dividend yield of 7.41%, which is 5 percentage points higher than the consumer staple sector average of 2.79%. Conagra Brands's dividend payout is not stable, having dropped more than 10% one times in the last 10 years. Conagra Brands's dividend has shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

Conagra Brands's dividend payout ratio of 58.1% indicates that its high dividend yield is sustainable for the long-term.

Consumer staple stocks were up 0.19% in the last day, and up 0.21% over the last week. Visionary Holdings was the among the top gainers in the consumer defensive sector, gaining 68.17% yesterday.

Visionary Holdings shares are trading higher after the company announced it entered into a strategic partnership with Jiangsu Yike Regenerative Medicine to collaborate on research, development and commercialization in the fields of cellular rejuvenation and aesthetic treatment.

Based on the Valuation rating, one of the 7 components of a stocks overall Zen Ratings grade, which evaluates factors including estimated earnings yield, earnings before interest and taxes/enterprise value, cash flow yield, free cash flow to price, and price-to-earnings growth (PEG ratio), the 3 most undervalued consumer staple stocks right now are:

Dingdong (NYSE:DDL) is the most undervalued consumer staple stock based on its Valuation Rating of A. Valuation is one of 7 Component Grades used to calculate the overall Zen Rating.

Dingdong has a valuation score of 43, which is 19 points higher than the consumer staple sector average of 24. It passed 3 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

Dingdong's stock has dropped -19.78% in the past year. It has overperformed other stocks in the consumer staple sector by 15 percentage points.

Nomad Foods (NYSE:NOMD) is the second most undervalued consumer staple stock based on its Valuation Rating of A. Valuation is one of 7 Component Grades used to calculate the overall Zen Rating.

Nomad Foods has a valuation score of 71, which is 47 points higher than the consumer staple sector average of 24. It passed 5 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

Nomad Foods's stock has dropped -30.22% in the past year. It has overperformed other stocks in the consumer staple sector by 5 percentage points.

Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) is the third most undervalued consumer staple stock based on its Valuation Rating of A. Valuation is one of 7 Component Grades used to calculate the overall Zen Rating.

Herbalife has a valuation score of 29, which is 5 points higher than the consumer staple sector average of 24. It passed 2 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

Herbalife's stock has gained 31.13% in the past year. It has overperformed other stocks in the consumer staple sector by 66 percentage points.

38.52% of consumer staple stocks rated by analysts are a strong buy right now. On average, analysts expect consumer staple stocks to rise by 14.51% over the next year.

5.26% of consumer staple stocks have a Zen Rating of A (Strong Buy), 16.32% of consumer staple stocks are rated B (Buy), 63.16% are rated C (Hold), 11.05% are rated D (Sell), and 4.21% are rated F (Strong Sell).