STOCK TITAN
  1. Home
  2. Financials
  3. Operating Margin
  4. Consumer Defensive

Top Consumer Defensive Stocks by Operating Margin

Top consumer defensive companies ranked by operating margin, latest annual filings.

What Operating Margin Means for Consumer Defensive Companies

Operating margin in consumer defensive reflects how efficiently a staples business, whether packaged food, beverages, household goods, or grocery retail, converts steady demand into operating profit after raw material costs, marketing, distribution, and overhead. Branded packaged-goods leaders sit in the middle of the sector range, tobacco typically earns notoriously wide operating margins thanks to addictive demand and entrenched pricing, while grocery chains and discount retailers run on some of the thinnest margins in the listed market, built on volume rather than unit economics.

Why It Matters in Consumer Defensive

Because staples volume is relatively insensitive to the economic cycle, operating margin tends to move with commodity input discipline and the ability to pass cost through at shelf. Brands with durable pricing power protect margin when input prices spike, while private-label pressure compresses it. Still, currency translation and promotional timing can swing reported margin meaningfully quarter to quarter in global staples firms, which is one reason the trailing twelve-month figure is more informative than any single period.

What to Read Alongside

Pair operating margin with Gross Margin to isolate the pricing-versus-input-cost dynamic before marketing spend, Revenue to size the business and gauge volume stability, and Net Margin for the after-tax picture.

Data as of FY 2025 91 companies Rhea AI
# Symbol Company Sector
1 MO Altria Group, Inc. Consumer Defensive 42.52% $114.61B
2 PM Philip Morris International Inc. Consumer Defensive 36.64% $296.50B
3 STZ Constellation Brands, Inc. Consumer Defensive 29.78% $20.08B
4 MNST Monster Beverage Corporation Consumer Defensive 29.17% $86.73B
5 KO The Coca-Cola Company Consumer Defensive 28.71% $381.25B
6 LAUR Laureate Education, Inc. Consumer Defensive 25.33% $4.98B
7 LOPE Grand Canyon Education, Inc. Consumer Defensive 24.04% $3.83B
8 PG The Procter & Gamble Company Consumer Defensive 22.69% $344.27B
9 KDP Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. Consumer Defensive 21.53% $42.88B
10 CVSA Covista Inc. Consumer Defensive 19.62% $4.19B
11 FIZZ National Beverage Corp. Consumer Defensive 19.49% $2.91B
12 ATGE Adtalem Global Education Inc Consumer Defensive 19.10% $3.40B
13 IPAR Interparfums, Inc. Consumer Defensive 18.16% $3.79B
14 LRN Stride, Inc. Consumer Defensive 17.90% $3.27B
15 CHD Church & Dwight Co., Inc. Consumer Defensive 17.37% $22.80B
16 CL Colgate-Palmolive Company Consumer Defensive 16.22% $69.39B
17 KVUE Kenvue Inc. Consumer Defensive 15.96% $34.31B
18 MKC McCormick & Company, Incorporated Consumer Defensive 15.65% $13.29B
19 BRBR BellRing Brands, Inc. Consumer Defensive 15.43% $1.05B
20 K Kellanova Consumer Defensive 14.69% $29.03B
21 KMB Kimberly-Clark Corporation Consumer Defensive 14.29% $32.90B
22 INGR Ingredion Incorporated Consumer Defensive 14.07% $6.17B
23 STRA Strategic Education, Inc. Consumer Defensive 13.74% $1.70B
24 MH McGraw Hill, Inc. Consumer Defensive 13.16% $2.59B
25 COKE Coca-Cola Consolidated, Inc. Consumer Defensive 13.15% $12.71B
26 MZTI The Marzetti Company Consumer Defensive 12.37% $2.83B
27 HSY The Hershey Company Consumer Defensive 12.33% $33.85B
28 PEP PepsiCo, Inc. Consumer Defensive 12.24% $179.06B
29 CALM Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. Consumer Defensive 12.03% $3.42B
30 EDU New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. Consumer Defensive 11.36% $8.49B
31 OLLI Ollie's Bargain Outlet Holdings, Inc. Consumer Defensive 11.24% $4.90B
32 CPB The Campbell's Company Consumer Defensive 10.96% $6.03B
33 SMPL The Simply Good Foods Company Consumer Defensive 10.81% $0.89B
34 POST Post Holdings, Inc. Consumer Defensive 9.80% $3.44B
35 HLF Herbalife Ltd. Consumer Defensive 9.55% $1.28B
36 MDLZ Mondelez International, Inc. Consumer Defensive 9.21% $77.96B
37 TAL TAL Education Group Consumer Defensive 9.17% $6.58B
38 LW Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. Consumer Defensive 8.94% $6.37B
39 PPC Pilgrim's Pride Corporation Consumer Defensive 8.72% $6.90B
40 DLTR Dollar Tree, Inc. Consumer Defensive 8.52% $21.58B
41 SFD Smithfield Foods, Inc. Consumer Defensive 8.32% $7.70B
42 CENT Central Garden & Pet Company Consumer Defensive 7.99% $2.52B
43 SFM Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. Consumer Defensive 7.79% $6.40B
44 JBSS John B. Sanfilippo & Son, Inc. Consumer Defensive 7.59% $0.79B
45 SAM The Boston Beer Company, Inc. Consumer Defensive 7.37% $1.73B
46 FRPT Freshpet, Inc. Consumer Defensive 6.87% $2.89B
47 PRMB Primo Brands Corporation Consumer Defensive 6.46% $7.11B
48 HRL Hormel Foods Corporation Consumer Defensive 5.94% $11.19B
49 UVV Universal Corporation Consumer Defensive 5.84% $1.08B
50 CELH Celsius Holdings, Inc. Consumer Defensive 5.61% $7.44B
51 JJSF J&J Snack Foods Corp. Consumer Defensive 5.33% $1.47B
52 BGS B&G Foods, Inc. Consumer Defensive 5.31% $0.25B
53 EL The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. Consumer Defensive 5.18% $36.28B
54 DG Dollar General Corporation Consumer Defensive 5.16% $27.05B
55 TGT Target Corporation Consumer Defensive 4.88% $72.24B
56 GIS General Mills, Inc. Consumer Defensive 4.81% $18.95B
57 AVO Mission Produce, Inc. Consumer Defensive 4.69% $1.11B
58 NGVC Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, Inc. Consumer Defensive 4.66% $0.69B
59 ELF e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. Consumer Defensive 4.50% $6.03B
60 DAR Darling Ingredients Inc. Consumer Defensive 4.46% $9.73B
61 SPB Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. Consumer Defensive 4.45% $2.02B
62 KLG WK Kellogg Co Consumer Defensive 4.43% $1.99B
63 NUS Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. Consumer Defensive 4.43% $0.24B
64 PSMT PriceSmart, Inc. Consumer Defensive 4.41% $5.33B
65 EPC Edgewell Personal Care Company Consumer Defensive 4.34% $1.29B
66 WMT Walmart Inc. Consumer Defensive 4.18% $873.66B
67 SJM The J. M. Smucker Company Consumer Defensive 3.98% $12.94B
68 BJ BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. Consumer Defensive 3.81% $11.49B
69 COST Costco Wholesale Corporation Consumer Defensive 3.77% $398.87B
70 SYY Sysco Corporation Consumer Defensive 3.66% $37.73B
71 CHEF The Chefs' Warehouse, Inc. Consumer Defensive 3.50% $4.42B
72 FLO Flowers Foods, Inc. Consumer Defensive 3.31% $1.25B
73 DMC Del Monte Corporation Consumer Defensive 3.18% $1.49B
74 VLGEA Village Super Market, Inc. Consumer Defensive 3.11% $0.67B
75 THS Treehouse Foods Inc Consumer Defensive 3.07% $1.23B
76 USFD US Foods Holding Corp. Consumer Defensive 3.04% $20.38B
77 DOLE Dole plc Consumer Defensive 2.43% $1.25B
78 WMK Weis Markets, Inc. Consumer Defensive 2.29% $1.80B
79 IMKTA Ingles Markets, Incorporated Consumer Defensive 2.20% $1.59B
80 TSN Tyson Foods, Inc. Consumer Defensive 2.02% $18.23B
81 UTZ Utz Brands, Inc. Consumer Defensive 1.36% $1.26B
82 PFGC Performance Food Group Company Consumer Defensive 1.31% $14.48B
83 KR The Kroger Co. Consumer Defensive 1.28% $34.58B
84 ACI Albertsons Companies, Inc. Consumer Defensive 0.87% $5.86B
85 UNFI United Natural Foods, Inc. Consumer Defensive 0.68% $2.77B
86 SPTN SpartanNash Company Consumer Defensive 0.57% $0.91B
87 DDL Dingdong (Cayman) Limited Consumer Defensive 0.54% $0.51B
88 NWL Newell Brands Inc. Consumer Defensive 0.54% $2.46B
89 DIT AMCON Distributing Company Consumer Defensive 0.45% $0.07B
90 CHSCL CHS Inc. Consumer Defensive 0.26% –
91 MAGN Magnera Corporation Consumer Defensive 0.16% $0.43B

How this ranking is built

Companies are ranked by operating 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.
  • 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.