Investing in Consumer Staples Stocks

By Jeremy Bowman – Updated Oct 24, 2025 at 12:29 AM | Fact-checked by Frank Bass

Key Points

Consumer staples stocks offer stable dividends and are defensive, thriving in various economic conditions.
These stocks generally see steady demand as they include essential daily products like food and household items.
Investing in consumer staples is considered low-risk, suitable for risk-averse investors seeking reliable returns.

You rely on consumer staples every day. They include daily essentials such as food and beverages, personal care products, and household and home care products.

People buy consumer staples regardless of the state of the economy, and the amount they buy is relatively fixed in good times and bad. In this way, the consumer staples sector behaves much differently than consumer discretionary businesses such as restaurants, hotels, and apparel, or consumer durables, which are long-lasting products such as furniture and electronics.

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Parent and child browsing grocery aisle and placing items in blue shopping basket. — Image source: Getty Images.

Consumer staples companies may not have the highest earnings growth or year-over-year revenue growth because these stocks tend to be large, mature companies, and the categories they compete in are typically developed. Historically, the sector has experienced relatively little disruption, and these stocks make up for modest growth with low price volatility, reliable profits, dividends, and defensive positioning.

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Did you know...

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Ticker Information Table
Name and ticker	Market cap	Dividend yield	Industry
Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG)	$356.9 billion	2.74%	Household Products
PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP)	$207.2 billion	3.67%	Beverages
Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM)	$245.3 billion	3.50%	Tobacco
Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST)	$413.1 billion	0.53%	Food and Staples Retailing

Data as of Oct 27, 2025.

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NYSE: PG

Procter & Gamble

Today's Change

(-0.58%) $-0.88

Current Price

$151.61

Key Data Points

Market Cap

$357B

Day's Range

$150.27 - $151.75

52wk Range

$146.97 - $180.43

Volume

285K

Avg Vol

7.3M

Gross Margin

51.23%

Dividend Yield

0.03%

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2. PepsiCo

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NASDAQ: PEP

PepsiCo

Today's Change

(0.71%) $1.08

Current Price

$152.63

Key Data Points

Market Cap

$207B

Day's Range

$150.96 - $152.87

52wk Range

$127.60 - $172.98

Volume

4.7M

Avg Vol

7.8M

Gross Margin

54.21%

Dividend Yield

0.04%

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NYSE: PM

Philip Morris International

Today's Change

(-2.71%) $-4.27

Current Price

$153.35

Key Data Points

Market Cap

$245B

Day's Range

$152.95 - $157.78

52wk Range

$116.12 - $186.69

Volume

322K

Avg Vol

6.4M

Gross Margin

64.37%

Dividend Yield

0.04%

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NASDAQ: COST

Costco Wholesale

Today's Change

(-0.20%) $-1.89

Current Price

$930.25

Key Data Points

Market Cap

$413B

Day's Range

$925.16 - $933.00

52wk Range

$867.34 - $1078.23

Volume

64K

Avg Vol

2.3M

Gross Margin

12.84%

Dividend Yield

0.01%

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Data sources: Vanguard, iShares, and SSGA.
Fund Name	Expense Ratio
Consumer Staples Select SPDR Fund (NYSEMKT:XLP)	0.08%
Vanguard Consumer Staples ETF (NYSEMKT:VDC)	0.09%
iShares U.S. Consumer Staples ETF (NYSEMKT:IYK)	0.38%

All three of these ETFs have Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, and Philip Morris in the top 10. The iShares U.S. Consumer Staples ETF doesn't include retailers, but the other two ETFs have giants such as Walmart (WMT -1.60%) and Costco making the cut.

In addition, all three ETFs own popular consumer staples stocks such as:

Coca-Cola
Mondelez (MDLZ +1.47%)
Altria
Colgate-Palmolive (CL -0.26%)

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Are consumer staples stocks right for you?

The best consumer staples companies tend to have consistently strong organic sales, leading market shares, and attractive dividend yields. Although the industry sees relatively little innovation and growth, consumer staples products tend to be timeless, and these companies are likely to continue to endure.

Consumer staples companies have an excellent ability to withstand recessions, increase their dividends, and post consistent, incremental growth. All of those characteristics make them good choices for investors looking for reliable, income-producing stocks.

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About the Author

Jeremy Bowman has been a contributing Motley Fool stock market analyst, covering technology, consumer goods, and macroeconomic trends since 2011. Before The Motley Fool, Jeremy was a newspaper reporter, restaurant manager, and English teacher abroad. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Colorado College and a master’s degree in business administration from American University. One of his Motley Fool headlines was briefly featured on Late Night with Stephen Colbert.

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Jeremy Bowman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Colgate-Palmolive, Costco Wholesale, and Walmart. The Motley Fool recommends British American Tobacco P.l.c. and Philip Morris International and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $40 calls on British American Tobacco and short January 2026 $40 puts on British American Tobacco. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.