There are several consumer stocks screaming “buy” right now. Consumer confidence has fallen to near-recessionary levels. The University of Michigan sentiment index hit 56.4 earlier this year. This is territory that usually triggers a rotation into defensive businesses.
At the same time, the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund was effectively flat in 2025 as investors poured money into AI and growth stocks, leaving some of the most durable income businesses on earth trading near multiyear lows.
To me, these consumer staples are a shopping list of names to buy. Here are four names I want to buy right now.
Image source: Getty Images.
1. General Mills: 127 years of dividends, priced like a disaster
General Mills (GIS 1.52%) is at a 15-year price low. The stock has fallen more than 50% over the past three years and is down roughly 21% year to date in 2026. The company is behind Cheerios, Blue Buffalo, Pillsbury, and Häagen-Dazs and is now yielding 6.7%. This is one of the highest yields in the S&P 500. General Mills has paid an uninterrupted dividend for 127 consecutive years, through two world wars, the Great Depression, the dot-com bust, and the financial crisis.
The near-term picture is genuinely messy. North American retail organic sales were down 3%, and adjusted operating profit fell 32% in constant currency in the most recent quarter. That’s real. But the Blue Buffalo pet food segment is growing double digits in select categories, the international segment is positive, and free cash flow is still supporting the dividend. This stock is going through a reset; it’s a solid buy for decades of passive income.
Today’s Change
(-1.52%) $-0.55
Current Price
$35.59
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$19B
Day’s Range
$35.43 – $36.43
52wk Range
$35.43 – $59.20
Volume
7.6M
Avg Vol
8.9M
Gross Margin
33.05%
Dividend Yield
8.54%
2. Hormel Foods: A Dividend King at a 50% discount to its peak
Hormel Foods (HRL 1.23%) has raised its dividend for 59 consecutive years — making it a Dividend King — and today the stock yields above 5%. To join the Dividend Kings, a company must achieve at least 50 straight years of increasing its dividend payout. The share price has fallen roughly 50% from its April 2022 peak and is down about 23% in the last 52 weeks alone. What happened? A chicken recall, a plant fire, a shift to a product-based sales model that didn’t land cleanly, and input cost pressures.
What’s staying intact: Spam, Skippy, Applegate, Planters, and Black Label. These are Hormel brands that rank No. 1 or No. 2 in their categories. The company has a 1.43x leverage ratio and an A-/A1 investment-grade credit rating. Hormel also holds a genuinely interesting dual position: When consumers trade down during a slowdown, its private-label manufacturing business picks up the slack where branded volumes fall. That’s a real hedge that most packaged food companies don’t have.
Today’s Change
(-1.23%) $-0.26
Current Price
$20.87
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$11B
Day’s Range
$20.79 – $21.18
52wk Range
$20.62 – $31.86
Volume
5.4M
Avg Vol
4.8M
Gross Margin
15.33%
Dividend Yield
5.57%
3. Kenvue: The J&J Spinoff Nobody Is Talking About
Kenvue (KVUE 0.46%) spun off from Johnson & Johnson in 2023. It owns Tylenol, Neutrogena, Listerine, Aveeno, Band-Aid, and Nicorette. It’s trading near $17.50 with a dividend yield approaching 4.8%. The stock is down roughly 30% from its 52-week high. This is a company with one of the most defensible product portfolios in consumer health, which the market simply hasn’t repriced upward since it became independent.
Revenue grew 3.2% quarter over quarter in the most recent period, and operating margins sit at 17.8%. There are 20 Wall Street analysts covering Kenvue with a median price target of $19.50, roughly 11% above current prices, and not a single sell rating among them. This company owns brands that people literally buy when they’re sick; that’s a combination of yield and analyst support that is worth attention.
Today’s Change
(-0.46%) $-0.08
Current Price
$17.35
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$33B
Day’s Range
$17.30 – $17.56
52wk Range
$14.02 – $25.17
Volume
13M
Avg Vol
39M
Gross Margin
58.29%
Dividend Yield
4.77%
4. Church & Dwight: The Quiet Compounder Nobody Talks About
Church & Dwight (CHD 0.77%) doesn’t have the brand recognition of the others on this list, but it should. It’s the world’s largest producer of baking soda. More importantly, its Arm & Hammer, OxiClean, Vitafusion, Batiste, and TheraBreath brands account for roughly 70% of its revenues. The company just added Touchland’s hand sanitizer business to its portfolio, and its online channel now accounts for 23% of global sales — the highest e-commerce penetration of any company on this list.
The stock recently was trading around $93, with a narrative fair value of approximately $103, and 28 analysts maintaining a median price target of $103, for a 10:1 ratio of buys to sells. Church & Dwight is guiding for 3% to 4% organic sales growth in 2026 at an EPS of $3.72. It’s not flashy, but it’s a solid buy for decades of gains.
Today’s Change
(-0.77%) $-0.74
Current Price
$95.42
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$23B
Day’s Range
$95.26 – $96.62
52wk Range
$81.33 – $107.05
Volume
1.3M
Avg Vol
2.4M
Gross Margin
42.78%
Dividend Yield
1.25%
The realistic thing to consider about all four of these is that none of them will double in a year. But that’s not the point. The point is that a decade from now, investors who bought these names while they were down (and while everyone else was chasing AI infrastructure plays) will be sitting on a stack of dividend checks that have grown every year, compounded on a cost basis that looks very smart in hindsight.
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