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 47, which is 17 points higher than the consumer staple sector average of 30. It passed 15 out of 33 due diligence checks and has strong fundamentals. Seneca Foods has seen its stock return 62.82% over the past year, overperforming other consumer staple stocks by 153 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: A, Safety: C, Financials: B, and AI: A.

Natures Sunshine Products (NASDAQ:NATR) has a Due Diligence Score of 40, which is 10 points higher than the consumer staple sector average of 30. It passed 16 out of 38 due diligence checks and has average fundamentals. Natures Sunshine Products has seen its stock return 39.85% over the past year, overperforming other consumer staple stocks by 130 percentage points.

Natures Sunshine Products has an average 1 year price target of $33.00, an upside of 60.19% from Natures Sunshine Products's current stock price of $20.60.

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.

Helen Of Troy (NASDAQ:HELE) 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 Helen Of Troy (NASDAQ:HELE) is: Value: B, Growth: B, Momentum: C, Sentiment: B, Safety: C, Financials: C, and AI: C.

Helen Of Troy (NASDAQ:HELE) has a Due Diligence Score of 13, which is -17 points lower than the consumer staple sector average of 30. Although this number is below the industry average, our proven quant model rates HELE as a "A".It passed 4 out of 33 due diligence checks and has weak fundamentals. Helen Of Troy has seen its stock return 20.4% over the past year, overperforming other consumer staple stocks by 111 percentage points.

Helen Of Troy has an average 1 year price target of $26.50, a downside of -6.26% from Helen Of Troy's current stock price of $28.27.

Helen Of Troy stock has a consensus Hold recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 2 analysts covering Helen Of Troy, 0% have issued a Strong Buy rating, 0% have issued a Buy, 100% 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 18.58%, which is 15 percentage points higher than the consumer staple sector average of 3.22%. 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 11.37%, which is 8 percentage points higher than the consumer staple sector average of 3.22%. 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 9.19%, which is 6 percentage points higher than the consumer staple sector average of 3.22%. 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 -35% indicates that its high dividend yield might not be sustainable for the long-term.

Consumer staple stocks were up 1.79% in the last day, and up 1.18% over the last week. Kidz Ai was the among the top gainers in the consumer defensive sector, gaining 43.68% yesterday.

KIDZ AI shares are trading higher after CEO Stephanie Luo issued a shareholder letter highlighting the disconnect between the stock price and the company’s balance sheet and contracted pipeline.

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 35 points higher than the consumer staple sector average of 22. It passed 4 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

Herbalife's stock has gained 24.92% in the past year. It has overperformed other stocks in the consumer staple sector by 115 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 21 points higher than the consumer staple sector average of 22. It passed 3 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

Nu Skin Enterprises's stock has dropped -42.18% in the past year. It has overperformed other stocks in the consumer staple sector by 48 percentage points.

Afya (NASDAQ:AFYA) 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.

Afya has a valuation score of 100, which is 78 points higher than the consumer staple sector average of 22. It passed 7 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

Afya's stock has gained 2.68% in the past year. It has overperformed other stocks in the consumer staple sector by 93 percentage points.

43.48% of consumer staple stocks rated by analysts are a strong buy right now. On average, analysts expect consumer staple stocks to rise by 18.04% over the next year.

2.33% of consumer staple stocks have a Zen Rating of A (Strong Buy), 13.37% of consumer staple stocks are rated B (Buy), 71.51% are rated C (Hold), 8.72% are rated D (Sell), and 4.07% are rated F (Strong Sell).