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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 90 companies Rhea AI
# Symbol Company Sector
1 MO Altria Group, Inc. Consumer Defensive 42.52% $113.13B
2 PM Philip Morris International Inc. Consumer Defensive 36.64% $293.10B
3 STZ Constellation Brands, Inc. Consumer Defensive 29.78% $22.63B
4 MNST Monster Beverage Corporation Consumer Defensive 29.17% $92.09B
5 KO Coca-Cola Company Consumer Defensive 28.71% $373.68B
6 LAUR Laureate Education, Inc. Consumer Defensive 25.33% $5.14B
7 LOPE Grand Canyon Education, Inc. Consumer Defensive 24.04% $3.88B
8 PG Procter & Gamble Company Consumer Defensive 22.69% $341.62B
9 KDP Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. Consumer Defensive 21.53% $41.33B
10 CVSA Covista Inc. Consumer Defensive 19.62% $4.23B
11 FIZZ National Beverage Corp. Consumer Defensive 19.49% $2.99B
12 ATGE Adtalem Global Education Inc Consumer Defensive 19.10% $3.40B
13 IPAR Interparfums, Inc. Consumer Defensive 18.16% $3.81B
14 LRN Stride, Inc. Consumer Defensive 17.90% $3.32B
15 CHD Church & Dwight Co., Inc. Consumer Defensive 17.37% $24.52B
16 CL Colgate-Palmolive Company Consumer Defensive 16.22% $74.14B
17 KVUE Kenvue Inc. Consumer Defensive 15.96% $36.83B
18 MKC McCormick & Company, Incorporated Consumer Defensive 15.65% $14.06B
19 BRBR BellRing Brands, Inc. Consumer Defensive 15.43% $1.41B
20 K Kellanova Consumer Defensive 14.69% $29.03B
21 KMB Kimberly-Clark Corporation Consumer Defensive 14.29% $36.14B
22 INGR Ingredion Incorporated Consumer Defensive 14.07% $6.49B
23 STRA Strategic Education, Inc. Consumer Defensive 13.74% $1.86B
24 MH McGraw Hill, Inc. Consumer Defensive 13.16% $2.21B
25 COKE Coca-Cola Consolidated, Inc. Consumer Defensive 13.15% $12.53B
26 HSY The Hershey Company Consumer Defensive 12.33% $36.77B
27 PEP PepsiCo, Inc. Consumer Defensive 12.24% $188.96B
28 CALM Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. Consumer Defensive 12.03% $3.98B
29 MZTI The Marzetti Company Consumer Defensive 11.54% $3.02B
30 OLLI Ollie's Bargain Outlet Holdings, Inc. Consumer Defensive 11.24% $4.71B
31 CPB The Campbell's Company Consumer Defensive 10.96% $6.73B
32 SMPL The Simply Good Foods Company Consumer Defensive 10.81% $0.99B
33 POST Post Holdings, Inc. Consumer Defensive 9.80% $4.09B
34 HLF Herbalife Ltd. Consumer Defensive 9.55% $1.21B
35 MDLZ Mondelez International, Inc. Consumer Defensive 9.21% $80.09B
36 TAL TAL Education Group Consumer Defensive 9.17% $6.91B
37 LW Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. Consumer Defensive 8.94% $7.16B
38 EDU New Oriental Education and Technology Group, Inc. American Consumer Defensive 8.74% $9.04B
39 PPC Pilgrim's Pride Corporation Consumer Defensive 8.72% $6.56B
40 DLTR Dollar Tree, Inc. Consumer Defensive 8.52% $24.92B
41 SFD Smithfield Foods, Inc. Consumer Defensive 8.32% $9.87B
42 CENT Central Garden & Pet Company Consumer Defensive 7.99% $2.91B
43 SFM Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. Consumer Defensive 7.79% $8.13B
44 JBSS John B. Sanfilippo & Son, Inc. Consumer Defensive 7.65% $0.98B
45 SAM The Boston Beer Company, Inc. Consumer Defensive 7.37% $1.88B
46 FRPT Freshpet, Inc. Consumer Defensive 6.87% $3.21B
47 PRMB Primo Brands Corporation Consumer Defensive 6.46% $8.66B
48 HRL Hormel Foods Corporation Consumer Defensive 5.94% $13.81B
49 UVV Universal Corporation Consumer Defensive 5.84% $1.27B
50 CELH Celsius Holdings, Inc. Consumer Defensive 5.61% $6.08B
51 JJSF J&J Snack Foods Corp. Consumer Defensive 5.33% $1.71B
52 BGS B&G Foods, Inc. Consumer Defensive 5.31% $0.28B
53 DG Dollar General Corporation Consumer Defensive 5.16% $28.11B
54 TGT Target Corporation Consumer Defensive 4.88% $66.80B
55 GIS General Mills, Inc. Consumer Defensive 4.81% $19.25B
56 AVO Mission Produce, Inc. Consumer Defensive 4.69% $1.11B
57 NGVC Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, Inc. Consumer Defensive 4.66% $0.75B
58 ELF e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. Consumer Defensive 4.50% $5.44B
59 DAR DARLING INGREDIENTS INC. Consumer Defensive 4.46% $9.62B
60 SPB Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. Consumer Defensive 4.45% $2.03B
61 KLG WK Kellogg Co Consumer Defensive 4.43% $1.99B
62 NUS NuSkin Enterprises, Inc. Consumer Defensive 4.43% $0.25B
63 PSMT PriceSmart, Inc. Consumer Defensive 4.41% $5.50B
64 EPC Edgewell Personal Care Company Consumer Defensive 4.34% $1.30B
65 WMT Walmart Inc. Consumer Defensive 4.18% $891.86B
66 COTY Coty Inc. Consumer Defensive 4.09% $2.39B
67 SJM The J. M. Smucker Company Consumer Defensive 3.98% $12.70B
68 BJ BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. Consumer Defensive 3.81% $12.41B
69 SYY Sysco Corporation Consumer Defensive 3.80% $40.37B
70 COST Costco Wholesale Corporation Consumer Defensive 3.77% $420.93B
71 CHEF The Chefs' Warehouse, Inc. Consumer Defensive 3.50% $4.45B
72 FLO Flowers Foods, Inc. Consumer Defensive 3.31% $1.53B
73 DMC Del Monte Corporation Consumer Defensive 3.18% $1.41B
74 VLGEA Village Super Market, Inc. Consumer Defensive 3.11% $0.64B
75 THS Treehouse Foods Inc Consumer Defensive 3.07% $1.23B
76 USFD US Foods Holding Corp. Consumer Defensive 3.04% $23.56B
77 DOLE Dole plc Consumer Defensive 2.43% $1.31B
78 WMK Weis Markets, Inc. Consumer Defensive 2.29% $1.89B
79 IMKTA Ingles Markets, Incorporated Consumer Defensive 2.20% $1.65B
80 TSN Tyson Foods, Inc. Consumer Defensive 2.02% $20.59B
81 UTZ Utz Brands, Inc. Consumer Defensive 1.36% $1.25B
82 PFGC Performance Food Group Company Consumer Defensive 1.29% $18.00B
83 KR The Kroger Co. Consumer Defensive 1.28% $35.12B
84 ACI Albertsons Companies, Inc. Consumer Defensive 0.87% $5.86B
85 SPTN SpartanNash Company Consumer Defensive 0.57% $0.91B
86 DDL Dingdong (Cayman) Limited Consumer Defensive 0.54% $0.49B
87 NWL Newell Brands Inc. Consumer Defensive 0.54% $2.56B
88 DIT AMCON Distributing Co. Consumer Defensive 0.45% $0.07B
89 CHSCL CHS Inc. Consumer Defensive 0.26% –
90 MAGN Magnera Corporation Consumer Defensive 0.16% $0.45B

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.
  • 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.