It's hard not to love an industry that's both timeless and recession-proof, and that's exactly what you get with beverage stocks. Whether it's coffee, tea, soda, or beer, people have been paying to slake their thirst for centuries, and the industry's reliability has helped create some of the world's most valuable brands.
Even better, the industry tends to offer high profit margins thanks to high barriers to entry. In the beverage sector, large brands and global distribution networks dominate. Keep reading to learn more about the top beverage stocks in 2026.
Beverage stocks to watch in 2026
Beverage companies fall into the larger category of consumer staples or consumer packaged goods -- products that people keep buying regardless of the state of the broader economy. These companies sell bottled and canned drinks in a wide range of locations, including supermarkets, convenience stores, restaurants, and bars.
NYSE: KO
Key Data Points
Monster remains a high-margin winner today, having ridden the energy drink boom and spun that brand into multiple flavors and subtypes. While there are signs that growth in the energy drink market may be starting to slow, the company experienced an acceleration in sales growth in the third quarter, with strong international growth, double-digit increases in core brands like Monster and Monster Ultra, a zero-sugar energy drink, and affordable brands like Predator and Fury.
Monster should continue to enjoy leading market share thanks to its partnership with Coca-Cola, widespread distribution, and well-known brand.
The Truly Hard Seltzer brand looked promising when sales of hard seltzer were soaring during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the category has since faded. Other malt beverages, like Twisted Tea and Hard Mountain Dew, have been successful for the company more recently.
The company has also sought to expand through acquisitions, though its purchase of Dogfish Head, a craft beer brand, was a misstep that led to a write-down. Revenue was flat in 2024, but Boston Beer continues to see opportunities in the Beyond Beer category, which includes its more successful Twisted Tea and Hard Mountain Dew brands.
In 2025, founder Jim Koch returned as CEO on an interim basis after Michael Spillane stepped down for personal reasons. While beer sales are still challenged across the industry, the company raised its gross margin and EPS guidance in the third quarter, showing it's making operational improvements in a difficult market.
Like other alcohol stocks, growth has been sluggish of late as it competes in a mature industry, and there has been a variety of headwinds in the alcohol industry. Organic net sales were up 1.7% in the year ended June 2025, showing the company still managed to deliver top-line growth in a difficult environment.
Diageo has long been a profit machine thanks to a strong portfolio of loyalty-inspiring brands in a difficult-to-enter industry. It reported an operating margin of 28% in fiscal 2025, and it should remain a cash-flow engine even if growth remains sluggish. It also offered a strong dividend yield of 4.8% in December 2025.
Future outlook
While health concerns have affected some companies like PepsiCo, the industry seems to be moving past those headwinds. Zero-sugar options in energy drinks are gaining popularity, and alternative, healthier drinks such as prebiotics sodas and coconut water are also gaining steam.
The beverage industry is known for timeless brands like Coke and Pepsi. Still, there will also always be room for innovation due to the nature of beverages, which are ubiquitous, low-priced, and both a need and a pleasure.
Interest in health can work toward the industry's advantage, as consumers have shown a willingness to pay up for healthy drinks or for nonalcoholic options such as mocktails. Demand for functional beverages, which include beneficial ingredients such as vitamins and probiotics, is expected to be a source of growth, with a projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.1% through 2029.
Low-sugar energy drinks have been another source of growth in recent years, with a CAGR of 18% from 2020 to 2024. Overall, there's still plenty of opportunity in a sector that some think of as a slow-growth industry.
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