Sectors & IndustriesConsumer Defensive

Best Consumer Staple Stocks to Buy Now (2026)

Top consumer staple stocks in 2026 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:

Seneca Foods (NASDAQ:SENEA) is the #1 top consumer staple stock out of 250 with a Zen Rating of A. Stocks with a rating of A have had an average return of +28.5% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for Seneca Foods (NASDAQ:SENEA) is: Value: B, Growth: B, Momentum: C, Sentiment: B, Safety: C, Financials: B, and AI: C.

Seneca Foods (NASDAQ:SENEA) has a Due Diligence Score of 49, which is 19 points higher than the consumer staple sector average of 30. It passed 16 out of 33 due diligence checks and has strong fundamentals. Seneca Foods has seen its stock return 65.6% over the past year, overperforming other consumer staple stocks by 157 percentage points.

Natures Sunshine Products (NASDAQ:NATR) is the #2 top consumer staple stock out of 250 with a Zen Rating of A. Stocks with a rating of A have had an average return of +28.5% per year. Learn more.

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

Natures Sunshine Products (NASDAQ:NATR) has a Due Diligence Score of 42, which is 12 points higher than the consumer staple sector average of 30. It passed 17 out of 38 due diligence checks and has strong fundamentals. Natures Sunshine Products has seen its stock return 36.39% over the past year, overperforming other consumer staple stocks by 128 percentage points.

Natures Sunshine Products has an average 1 year price target of $34.50, an upside of 63.2% from Natures Sunshine Products's current stock price of $21.14.

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 #3 top consumer staple stock out of 250 with a Zen Rating of A. Stocks with a rating of A have had an average return of +28.5% per year. Learn more.

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

American Public Education (NASDAQ:APEI) has a Due Diligence Score of 40, which is 10 points higher than the consumer staple sector average of 30. It passed 13 out of 33 due diligence checks and has average fundamentals. American Public Education has seen its stock return 77.52% over the past year, overperforming other consumer staple stocks by 169 percentage points.

American Public Education has an average 1 year price target of $61.00, an upside of 14.77% from American Public Education's current stock price of $53.15.

American Public Education stock has a consensus Strong Buy recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 5 analysts covering American Public Education, 60% have issued a Strong Buy rating, 20% have issued a Buy, 20% have issued a Hold, while 0% have issued a Sell rating, and 0% have issued a Strong Sell.

Out of 91 consumer staple stocks that have issued dividends in the past year, the 3 consumer staple stocks with the highest dividend yields are:

B&G Foods (NYSE:BGS) has an annual dividend yield of 18.63%, which is 15 percentage points higher than the consumer staple sector average of 3.2%. B&G Foods's dividend payout is not stable, having dropped more than 10% two 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 -79.2% indicates that its high dividend yield might not be sustainable for the long-term.

Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO) has an annual dividend yield of 12.03%, which is 9 percentage points higher than the consumer staple sector average of 3.2%. Flowers Foods's dividend payout is not stable, having dropped more than 10% one times in the last 10 years. Flowers Foods's dividend has not shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

Flowers Foods's dividend payout ratio of 275.4% indicates that its high dividend yield might not be sustainable for the long-term.

Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG) has an annual dividend yield of 8.22%, which is 5 percentage points higher than the consumer staple sector average of 3.2%. Conagra Brands's dividend payout is not stable, having dropped more than 10% two times in the last 10 years. Conagra Brands's dividend has not shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

Conagra Brands's dividend payout ratio of -35% indicates that its high dividend yield might not be sustainable for the long-term.

Consumer staple stocks were up 0.56% in the last day, and up 0.96% over the last week. Beeline Holdings was the among the top gainers in the consumer defensive sector, gaining 14.16% yesterday.

Shares of financial services companies are trading higher as declining oil prices and a dovish Fed rate hold last week have eased concerns about tight lending policy, with Treasury yields falling. The move has improved broader market sentiment and supported the sector.

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:

Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) 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.

Herbalife has a valuation score of 57, which is 36 points higher than the consumer staple sector average of 21. It passed 4 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

Herbalife's stock has gained 33.3% in the past year. It has overperformed other stocks in the consumer staple sector by 125 percentage points.

Nu Skin Enterprises (NYSE:NUS) 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.

Nu Skin Enterprises has a valuation score of 43, which is 22 points higher than the consumer staple sector average of 21. It passed 3 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

Nu Skin Enterprises's stock has dropped -38.06% in the past year. It has overperformed other stocks in the consumer staple sector by 54 percentage points.

Phoenix Education Partners (NYSE:PXED) 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.

Phoenix Education Partners has a valuation score of 0, which is -21 points higher than the consumer staple sector average of 21. It passed 0 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks. Although this number is below the industry average, our proven quant model rates PXED a Valuation Rating of "A".

41.61% of consumer staple stocks rated by analysts are a strong buy right now. On average, analysts expect consumer staple stocks to rise by 17.89% over the next year.

3.47% of consumer staple stocks have a Zen Rating of A (Strong Buy), 13.87% of consumer staple stocks are rated B (Buy), 69.36% are rated C (Hold), 9.25% are rated D (Sell), and 4.05% are rated F (Strong Sell).