Top Consumer Defensive Stocks by Gross Margin
Top consumer defensive companies ranked by gross margin, latest annual filings.
What Gross Margin Means for Consumer Defensive Companies
Gross margin in consumer defensive captures what is left after commodity inputs, packaging, bottling, and direct manufacturing labor are paid. The sector covers staples such as food, beverages, household goods, tobacco, and grocery retail, where demand is relatively stable across cycles but input costs, especially agricultural commodities and packaging resin, move with their own rhythms. Premium and branded staples tend to earn meaningfully richer gross margins than private-label or bulk-retail peers.
Why It Matters in Consumer Defensive
In staples, gross margin is often the clearest read on brand-supported pricing power against a largely inelastic demand curve. A leading brand can push through input-cost inflation with price increases that private-label competitors struggle to match. Still, commodity swings and private-label pressure can compress the margin meaningfully in specific periods, and grocery retailers structurally run much thinner gross margins than the consumer goods makers whose products they stock.
What to Read Alongside
Pair gross margin with Revenue to anchor the volume base the margin applies to, Operating Margin for a view that includes the heavy marketing spend that drives brand strength in staples, and Net Margin for the final bottom-line conversion.
| # | Symbol | Company | Sector | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MH | McGraw Hill, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 80.92% | $2.08B |
| 2 | HLF | Herbalife Ltd. | Consumer Defensive | 77.87% | $1.60B |
| 3 | ELF | e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 70.72% | $6.87B |
| 4 | NUS | Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 69.45% | $199.57M |
| 5 | PM | Philip Morris International Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 67.12% | $308.42B |
| 6 | IPAR | Interparfums, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 63.64% | $4.34B |
| 7 | COTY | Coty Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 62.89% | $3.57B |
| 8 | MO | Altria Group, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 62.47% | $126.62B |
| 9 | KO | The Coca-Cola Company | Consumer Defensive | 61.63% | $411.56B |
| 10 | BF | Brown-Forman Corporation | Consumer Defensive | 60.54% | $14.44B |
| 11 | CL | Colgate-Palmolive Company | Consumer Defensive | 60.11% | $76.76B |
| 12 | KVUE | Kenvue Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 58.13% | $37.11B |
| 13 | CVSA | Covista Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 57.34% | $3.67B |
| 14 | BUD | Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV | Consumer Defensive | 55.93% | $165.33B |
| 15 | MNST | Monster Beverage Corporation | Consumer Defensive | 55.85% | $89.50B |
| 16 | TAL | TAL Education Group | Consumer Defensive | 55.35% | $5.64B |
| 17 | EDU | New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 54.64% | $8.53B |
| 18 | KDP | Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 54.20% | $49.85B |
| 19 | PEP | PepsiCo, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 54.15% | $192.61B |
| 20 | STZ | Constellation Brands, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 51.55% | $24.02B |
| 21 | ABEV | Ambev S.A. | Consumer Defensive | 51.42% | $43.01B |
| 22 | CELH | Celsius Holdings, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 50.39% | $8.06B |
| 23 | PG | The Procter & Gamble Company | Consumer Defensive | 50.18% | $383.36B |
| 24 | FLO | Flowers Foods, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 48.87% | $1.42B |
| 25 | SAM | The Boston Beer Company, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 48.48% | $2.24B |
| 26 | UL | Unilever PLC | Consumer Defensive | 46.95% | $142.12B |
| 27 | CHD | Church & Dwight Co., Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 44.73% | $25.81B |
| 28 | CCU | Compañía Cervecerías Unidas S.A. | Consumer Defensive | 44.39% | $2.00B |
| 29 | DEO | Diageo plc | Consumer Defensive | 42.08% | $55.56B |
| 30 | EPC | Edgewell Personal Care Company | Consumer Defensive | 41.60% | $1.29B |
| 31 | FRPT | Freshpet, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 40.80% | $3.11B |
| 32 | OLLI | Ollie's Bargain Outlet Holdings, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 40.50% | $5.37B |
| 33 | COKE | Coca-Cola Consolidated, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 39.74% | $13.84B |
| 34 | SFM | Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 38.80% | $4.53B |
| 35 | MKC | McCormick & Company, Incorporated | Consumer Defensive | 37.90% | $13.02B |
| 36 | LRN | Stride, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 37.75% | $3.15B |
| 37 | FIZZ | National Beverage Corp. | Consumer Defensive | 37.04% | $3.48B |
| 38 | SPB | Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 36.74% | $1.99B |
| 39 | DLTR | Dollar Tree, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 36.32% | $24.61B |
| 40 | KMB | Kimberly-Clark Corporation | Consumer Defensive | 36.01% | $66.54B |
| 41 | CCEP | Coca-Cola Europacific Partners PLC | Consumer Defensive | 35.60% | $50.97B |
| 42 | MICC | The Magnum Ice Cream Company N.V. | Consumer Defensive | 34.63% | $11.74B |
| 43 | NWL | Newell Brands Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 33.76% | $2.33B |
| 44 | GIS | General Mills, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 33.63% | $18.99B |
| 45 | HSY | The Hershey Company | Consumer Defensive | 33.55% | $35.79B |
| 46 | SJM | The J. M. Smucker Company | Consumer Defensive | 33.53% | $13.95B |
| 47 | KHC | The Kraft Heinz Company | Consumer Defensive | 33.31% | $29.13B |
| 48 | BRBR | BellRing Brands, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 33.26% | $1.07B |
| 49 | TAP | Molson Coors Beverage Company | Consumer Defensive | 32.78% | $7.48B |
| 50 | SMPL | The Simply Good Foods Company | Consumer Defensive | 32.61% | $1.05B |
| 51 | CENT | Central Garden & Pet Company | Consumer Defensive | 31.87% | $2.99B |
| 52 | DG | Dollar General Corporation | Consumer Defensive | 30.66% | $29.51B |
| 53 | PRMB | Primo Brands Corporation | Consumer Defensive | 30.32% | $8.10B |
| 54 | GO | Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. | Consumer Defensive | 30.27% | $1.29B |
| 55 | NGVC | Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 29.90% | $659.35M |
| 56 | JJSF | J&J Snack Foods Corp. | Consumer Defensive | 29.68% | $1.68B |
| 57 | POST | Post Holdings, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 28.68% | $3.65B |
| 58 | MDLZ | Mondelez International, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 28.38% | $83.57B |
| 59 | LAUR | Laureate Education, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 28.33% | $4.56B |
| 60 | VLGEA | Village Super Market, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 28.17% | $610.32M |
| 61 | CPB | The Campbell's Company | Consumer Defensive | 28.14% | $6.90B |
| 62 | TGT | Target Corporation | Consumer Defensive | 27.93% | $71.97B |
| 63 | ACI | Albertsons Companies, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 27.18% | $6.02B |
| 64 | NOMD | Nomad Foods Limited | Consumer Defensive | 27.14% | $1.64B |
| 65 | INGR | Ingredion Incorporated | Consumer Defensive | 25.32% | $5.72B |
| 66 | WMK | Weis Markets, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 25.01% | $1.92B |
| 67 | WMT | Walmart Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 24.93% | $995.84B |
| 68 | UTZ | Utz Brands, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 24.90% | $1.26B |
| 69 | MZTI | The Marzetti Company | Consumer Defensive | 24.73% | $2.86B |
| 70 | AGRO | Adecoagro S.A. | Consumer Defensive | 24.60% | $1.30B |
| 71 | CHEF | The Chefs' Warehouse, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 24.20% | $4.51B |
| 72 | DAR | Darling Ingredients Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 24.01% | $7.92B |
| 73 | CAG | Conagra Brands, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 23.92% | $7.28B |
| 74 | IMKTA | Ingles Markets, Incorporated | Consumer Defensive | 23.89% | $1.56B |
| 75 | KR | The Kroger Co. | Consumer Defensive | 23.30% | $39.98B |
| 76 | CALM | Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 23.08% | $3.02B |
| 77 | KLC | KinderCare Learning Companies, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 22.14% | $248.89M |
| 78 | BGS | B&G Foods, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 21.81% | $203.19M |
| 79 | LW | Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 20.56% | $7.61B |
| 80 | HAIN | The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 20.11% | $13.60M |
| 81 | BJ | BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 18.64% | $13.82B |
| 82 | SYY | Sysco Corporation | Consumer Defensive | 18.50% | $37.84B |
| 83 | JBSS | John B. Sanfilippo & Son, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 17.96% | $642.67M |
| 84 | PSMT | PriceSmart, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 17.67% | $5.02B |
| 85 | USFD | US Foods Holding Corp. | Consumer Defensive | 17.41% | $22.90B |
| 86 | HFFG | HF Foods Group Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 16.90% | $81.74M |
| 87 | UVV | Universal Corporation | Consumer Defensive | 16.38% | $982.37M |
| 88 | TBBB | BBB Foods Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 16.18% | $7.91B |
| 89 | HRL | Hormel Foods Corporation | Consumer Defensive | 15.63% | $12.08B |
| 90 | SENEA | Seneca Foods Corporation | Consumer Defensive | 13.93% | $1.02B |
| 91 | UNFI | United Natural Foods, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 13.47% | $2.72B |
| 92 | SFD | Smithfield Foods, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 13.45% | $7.60B |
| 93 | JBS | JBS N.V. | Consumer Defensive | 13.11% | $13.37B |
| 94 | COST | Costco Wholesale Corporation | Consumer Defensive | 12.82% | $466.86B |
| 95 | PPC | Pilgrim's Pride Corporation | Consumer Defensive | 12.75% | $6.79B |
| 96 | WEST | Westrock Coffee Company | Consumer Defensive | 12.68% | $877.70M |
| 97 | PFGC | Performance Food Group Company | Consumer Defensive | 11.93% | $16.96B |
| 98 | AVO | Mission Produce, Inc. | Consumer Defensive | 11.55% | $1.02B |
| 99 | MAGN | Magnera Corporation | Consumer Defensive | 10.52% | $439.30M |
| 100 | DMC | Del Monte Corporation | Consumer Defensive | 9.23% | $1.29B |
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How this ranking is built
Companies are ranked by gross margin as reported in their most recent annual filing with the SEC. Figures shown are in US dollars (or percent, as noted), rounded to two decimals.
- Source: annual 10-K / 20-F filings from companies trading on US exchanges (NYSE, Nasdaq, AMEX).
- Fiscal year: whichever annual period the company has most recently filed. Fiscal years don't always align with the calendar year, so the "as of FY" stamp above reflects the most common year across the table.
- Filtered out: warrants, preferred shares, and duplicate listings that share a parent company's financials.
- Size floor: A company qualifies at $1 billion in annual revenue or above, so a small filer with a freak ratio cannot top the list.
- Value range: Only figures above 0% and up to 100% qualify.
- Narrow cost lines: A company whose cost line holds only part of its direct costs, such as a utility counting only the energy it buys, is left out, because revenue less that line is not a gross margin. Its financials page shows the figure under its own name.
- Cost-classification check: A company whose gross margin runs more than 70 points above its operating margin is left out, because at that gap the split between cost of sales and operating cost is a reporting convention rather than a margin. A company with no usable operating margin, usually because it reports no operating income, is left out too, since the gap cannot be checked.
- Market cap: stated at each company's latest close, which is newer than the annual figure ranked here.
- Update cadence: refreshed as companies file new annual reports (typically within 60–90 days of fiscal year end).
Not financial advice. This is a research tool, not a recommendation.
Frequently asked questions
Why do branded staples typically outearn grocery retailers on gross margin?
Branded consumer goods companies design and market the product; grocery retailers essentially stock and distribute it. The brand owner captures the premium that customers pay for recognition, consistency, and trust, and that premium flows through the gross line. Grocery retailers, in contrast, operate on thin spreads between wholesale acquisition cost and shelf price, earning their return through inventory turnover, private-label mix, and scale on logistics. The two business models sit in the same sector but have fundamentally different gross margin profiles.
How do input-cost cycles affect staples gross margin?
Food and beverage makers are exposed to agricultural commodity prices, energy costs for production and transport, and packaging materials such as aluminum, glass, or resin. When those inputs inflate faster than prices can be passed through to consumers, gross margin compresses; when they deflate or pricing catches up, margin rebuilds. The speed of pass-through depends on brand strength, retailer negotiating power, and contractual structures with ingredient suppliers, which is why margin response to commodity moves varies meaningfully across firms.