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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.

Data as of FY 2025 100 companies Rhea AI
# Symbol Company Sector
1 MH McGraw Hill, Inc. Consumer Defensive 80.92% $2.54B
2 HLF Herbalife Ltd. Consumer Defensive 77.87% $1.25B
3 ELF e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. Consumer Defensive 70.72% $5.77B
4 NUS Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. Consumer Defensive 69.45% $0.23B
5 PM Philip Morris International Inc. Consumer Defensive 67.12% $292.21B
6 IPAR Interparfums, Inc. Consumer Defensive 63.64% $3.61B
7 COTY Coty Inc. Consumer Defensive 62.89% $2.21B
8 MO Altria Group, Inc. Consumer Defensive 62.47% $114.43B
9 KO The Coca-Cola Company Consumer Defensive 61.63% $374.84B
10 CL Colgate-Palmolive Company Consumer Defensive 60.11% $68.76B
11 KVUE Kenvue Inc. Consumer Defensive 58.13% $33.94B
12 CVSA Covista Inc. Consumer Defensive 57.34% $4.28B
13 ATGE Adtalem Global Education Inc Consumer Defensive 56.86% $3.40B
14 MNST Monster Beverage Corporation Consumer Defensive 55.85% $86.20B
15 TAL TAL Education Group Consumer Defensive 55.35% $6.56B
16 EDU New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. Consumer Defensive 54.64% $8.78B
17 KDP Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. Consumer Defensive 54.20% $41.67B
18 PEP PepsiCo, Inc. Consumer Defensive 54.15% $176.88B
19 STZ Constellation Brands, Inc. Consumer Defensive 51.55% $20.22B
20 CELH Celsius Holdings, Inc. Consumer Defensive 50.39% $7.09B
21 PG The Procter & Gamble Company Consumer Defensive 50.18% $339.30B
22 FLO Flowers Foods, Inc. Consumer Defensive 48.87% $1.26B
23 SAM The Boston Beer Company, Inc. Consumer Defensive 48.48% $1.76B
24 CLX The Clorox Company Consumer Defensive 45.23% $10.26B
25 CHD Church & Dwight Co., Inc. Consumer Defensive 44.73% $22.48B
26 EPC Edgewell Personal Care Company Consumer Defensive 41.60% $1.25B
27 FRPT Freshpet, Inc. Consumer Defensive 40.80% $2.95B
28 OLLI Ollie's Bargain Outlet Holdings, Inc. Consumer Defensive 40.50% $4.73B
29 COKE Coca-Cola Consolidated, Inc. Consumer Defensive 39.74% $12.64B
30 SFM Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. Consumer Defensive 38.80% $6.40B
31 MKC McCormick & Company, Incorporated Consumer Defensive 37.90% $13.14B
32 LRN Stride, Inc. Consumer Defensive 37.75% $3.30B
33 FIZZ National Beverage Corp. Consumer Defensive 37.04% $2.94B
34 SPB Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. Consumer Defensive 36.74% $1.96B
35 DLTR Dollar Tree, Inc. Consumer Defensive 36.32% $21.08B
36 SMPL The Simply Good Foods Company Consumer Defensive 36.24% $0.88B
37 KMB Kimberly-Clark Corporation Consumer Defensive 36.01% $32.51B
38 K Kellanova Consumer Defensive 35.65% $29.03B
39 NWL Newell Brands Inc. Consumer Defensive 33.76% $2.39B
40 GIS General Mills, Inc. Consumer Defensive 33.63% $18.93B
41 HSY The Hershey Company Consumer Defensive 33.55% $33.74B
42 SJM The J. M. Smucker Company Consumer Defensive 33.53% $12.81B
43 KHC The Kraft Heinz Company Consumer Defensive 33.31% $28.90B
44 BRBR BellRing Brands, Inc. Consumer Defensive 33.26% $1.04B
45 TAP Molson Coors Beverage Company Consumer Defensive 32.78% $7.00B
46 CENT Central Garden & Pet Company Consumer Defensive 31.87% $2.51B
47 DG Dollar General Corporation Consumer Defensive 30.66% $27.01B
48 CPB The Campbell's Company Consumer Defensive 30.42% $5.94B
49 PRMB Primo Brands Corporation Consumer Defensive 30.32% $7.41B
50 GO Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. Consumer Defensive 30.27% $1.11B
51 NGVC Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, Inc. Consumer Defensive 29.90% $0.71B
52 KLG WK Kellogg Co Consumer Defensive 29.69% $1.99B
53 JJSF J&J Snack Foods Corp. Consumer Defensive 29.68% $1.46B
54 POST Post Holdings, Inc. Consumer Defensive 28.68% $3.41B
55 VLGEA Village Super Market, Inc. Consumer Defensive 28.57% $0.66B
56 MDLZ Mondelez International, Inc. Consumer Defensive 28.38% $76.80B
57 LAUR Laureate Education, Inc. Consumer Defensive 28.33% $5.00B
58 TGT Target Corporation Consumer Defensive 27.93% $71.65B
59 ACI Albertsons Companies, Inc. Consumer Defensive 27.18% $5.88B
60 INGR Ingredion Incorporated Consumer Defensive 25.32% $6.12B
61 WMK Weis Markets, Inc. Consumer Defensive 25.01% $1.81B
62 WMT Walmart Inc. Consumer Defensive 24.93% $852.40B
63 UTZ Utz Brands, Inc. Consumer Defensive 24.90% $1.26B
64 MZTI The Marzetti Company Consumer Defensive 24.73% $2.80B
65 CHEF The Chefs' Warehouse, Inc. Consumer Defensive 24.20% $4.52B
66 DAR Darling Ingredients Inc. Consumer Defensive 24.01% $9.98B
67 CAG Conagra Brands, Inc. Consumer Defensive 23.92% $7.26B
68 IMKTA Ingles Markets, Incorporated Consumer Defensive 23.89% $1.58B
69 KR The Kroger Co. Consumer Defensive 23.30% $35.25B
70 CALM Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. Consumer Defensive 23.08% $3.39B
71 KLC KinderCare Learning Companies, Inc. Consumer Defensive 22.14% $0.27B
72 BGS B&G Foods, Inc. Consumer Defensive 21.81% $0.24B
73 LW Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. Consumer Defensive 20.56% $6.50B
74 HAIN The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. Consumer Defensive 20.11% $0.05B
75 BJ BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. Consumer Defensive 18.64% $11.66B
76 SYY Sysco Corporation Consumer Defensive 18.50% $37.61B
77 JBSS John B. Sanfilippo & Son, Inc. Consumer Defensive 17.96% $0.78B
78 USFD US Foods Holding Corp. Consumer Defensive 17.41% $20.38B
79 PSMT PriceSmart, Inc. Consumer Defensive 17.35% $5.27B
80 HFFG HF Foods Group Inc. Consumer Defensive 16.90% $0.08B
81 UVV Universal Corporation Consumer Defensive 16.38% $1.08B
82 THS Treehouse Foods Inc Consumer Defensive 16.35% $1.23B
83 SPTN SpartanNash Company Consumer Defensive 15.84% $0.91B
84 HRL Hormel Foods Corporation Consumer Defensive 15.63% $11.26B
85 UNFI United Natural Foods, Inc. Consumer Defensive 13.47% $2.79B
86 SFD Smithfield Foods, Inc. Consumer Defensive 13.45% $7.82B
87 COST Costco Wholesale Corporation Consumer Defensive 12.84% $398.46B
88 PPC Pilgrim's Pride Corporation Consumer Defensive 12.75% $7.02B
89 WEST Westrock Coffee Company Consumer Defensive 12.68% $0.75B
90 PFGC Performance Food Group Company Consumer Defensive 11.93% $14.52B
91 AVO Mission Produce, Inc. Consumer Defensive 11.55% $1.12B
92 MAGN Magnera Corporation Consumer Defensive 10.52% $0.42B
93 DMC Del Monte Corporation Consumer Defensive 9.23% $1.46B
94 DOLE Dole plc Consumer Defensive 7.79% $1.23B
95 DIT AMCON Distributing Company Consumer Defensive 6.68% $0.07B
96 TSN Tyson Foods, Inc. Consumer Defensive 6.54% $18.30B
97 ANDE The Andersons, Inc. Consumer Defensive 6.48% $2.33B
98 ADM Archer-Daniels-Midland Company Consumer Defensive 6.27% $40.19B
99 BG Bunge Global SA Consumer Defensive 4.85% $21.63B
100 CHSCL CHS Inc. Consumer Defensive 3.21% –

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.
  • 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.
  • 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.