Best Consumer Defensive Stocks in the United States for 2026
Food, beverage, household-product, and tobacco names built for defense, not growth; Health and Quality pillars do most of the work here.
Consumer Defensive (Consumer Staples) names sell what people buy regardless of the macro cycle: food, beverages, household products, tobacco. Lower beta and steadier earnings mean the Health and Quality pillars dominate; high composite scores in this sector tend to come from durable franchises rather than rapid growth.
United States listings cover NYSE, NASDAQ, and AMEX (the deepest equity market by float and analyst coverage). Composite scores combine Valuation, Quality, Growth, and Health pillars on US GAAP fundamentals refreshed nightly.
Data as of (updated daily)
Top 20 Consumer Defensive in United States by composite score
| # | Ticker | Name | Composite |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | TAL.US | TAL Education Group | 73.2 |
| 2 | PRDO.US | Perdoceo Education Corp | 71.5 |
| 3 | RAY.US | Raytech Holding Limited Ordinary Shares | 70.2 |
| 4 | FEDU.US | Four Seasons Education Cayman | 69.6 |
| 5 | SENEA.US | Seneca Foods Corp A | 69.0 |
| 6 | SENEB.US | Seneca Foods Corp B | 67.9 |
| 7 | STRA.US | Strategic Education Inc | 67.8 |
| 8 | STG.US | Sunlands Technology Group | 66.7 |
| 9 | LRN.US | Stride Inc | 66.5 |
| 10 | HLF.US | Herbalife Nutrition Ltd | 66.4 |
| 11 | MKC-V.US | McCormick & Company Incorporated | 65.7 |
| 12 | RLX.US | RLX Technology Inc | 65.2 |
| 13 | AMBO.US | Ambow Education Holding Ltd | 65.0 |
| 14 | CLX.US | The Clorox Company | 64.7 |
| 15 | CCEP.US | Coca-Cola European Partners PLC | 64.5 |
| 16 | MKC.US | McCormick & Company Incorporated | 64.5 |
| 17 | LAUR.US | Laureate Education Inc | 64.2 |
| 18 | PXED.US | Phoenix Education Partners, Inc. | 64.2 |
| 19 | MO.US | Altria Group | 63.8 |
| 20 | APEI.US | American Public Education Inc | 63.3 |
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Methodology: How we score stocks. Data refreshed nightly around 03:30 ET. This page lists the top 20 by composite score within the Consumer Defensive sector listed in the United States; use the screener for the full ranked list.