Consumer staples stocks had a slow start to the year, but have been gaining momentum in recent months, thanks in part to a third round of spur checks issued to Americans in March.
According to S&P Dow Jones Indices, the S&P 500 Consumer Staples Index is up 12.7% since its March lows. And while that’s surely slower growth than what the sector veteran last year during the height of the endemic, there are tailwinds on the horizon – counting back-to-school shopping and direct child tax credit payments – that could keep the momentum going for consumer staples stocks.
Not to mention, there’s always a place in a well-constructed stock choice for a few guilty plays that are less recurring in nature.
With that in mind, here are 12 consumer staples stocks to watch for the rest of 2021. The names on this list have either performed well in 2021 and appear poised to take up again to do so over the back half of the year, or have underperformed year-to-date but look ready to take off.
Data is as of July 14. Bonus yields are calculated by annualizing the most recent payout and separating by the share price. Analysts’ opinions courtesy of S&P Global Market Acumen.
- Market value: $125.5 billion
- Bonus yield: 1.4%
- Analysts’ opinion: 16 Strong Buy, 6 Buy, 6 Hold, 0 Sell, 1 Strong Sell
It’s hard to have a list of the best consumer staples stocks and not include Target (TGT, $253.63).
There is no inquiry that TGT has been on an total run since CEO Brian Cornell took the helm in August 2014. The former head of PepsiCo’s (PEP) largest rift – PepsiCo Americas Foods – was hired to return the seller to its former glory while also construction the company’s omnichannel retail platform, and his success on both fronts has pleased shareholders considerably.
Over the past five years, Target’s annualized total return is 29.3%, easily outpacing the 17.4% average annual return for the entire U.S. market over that same time frame.
Cornell was 55 when he was brought onboard at Target, and he is inflowing his eighth year as CEO well into his 60s. At some point, investors can expect a transition of power.
In the meantime, it looks as though Target will take up again to rack up noteworthy growth as Cornell fine-tunes the company’s affair approach to capture even more of the American patrons’ pocketbooks.
“This is a company that seems to be firing on all cylinders and just articulated their confidence in future return growth by raising the bonus 32%. They had a project [first] quarter,” Nancy Tengler, chief investment officer at Laffer Tengler Funds, told CNBC’s “Trading Nation” in late June.
As Tengler reminded CNBC viewers, Target has a invasion rate higher than nearly any seller. According to Tengler, 94% of its stores are within 60 minutes of an American consumer.
Over the trailing 12 months, Target had free cash flow (FCF) of $7.94 billion. That’s an arresting FCF yield of 6.4%.
- Market value: $118.4 billion
- Bonus yield: 0.7%
- Analysts’ opinion: 14 Strong Buy, 6 Buy, 6 Hold, 1 Sell, 0 Strong Sell
Excellent companies are constantly varying. Estée Lauder (EL, $326.56) is no exclusion despite long-lasting to deliver strong global results.
In late June, the head of the showy giant’s North American group sent a memo to staff signifying that the changes it would be making include worker layoffs.
“As we evolve our establishment to reflect our new reality, there will be some talent impacts in certain areas of the affair. While trying, these decisions are de rigueur to fruitfully pivot to new market dynamics and lead our affair into the future,” North American Group Head Chris Excellent wrote in the memo to staff.
Estée Lauder’s affair pivoted during COVID-19, and it expects that the changes that took place during the endemic will carry on after the endemic is over.
EL is surely flourishing. It expects fiscal 2021 to be a record year for sales. It estimates its sales this year will be approximately $16 billion, greatly higher than the $14.3 billion in sales the company saw in 2020. Its adjusted in commission margin will also be 18%, the highest it’s been in the past five years.
In its most recent quarter finished March 31, the company’s makeup sales took a hit, sliding 13%, without currency, during the three-month period. But, its skincare affair – its largest segment accounting for 58% of sales – saw revenues jump 28% during the fiscal third quarter, with in commission income up 92%.
Overall, sales augmented 13% during EL’s fiscal third quarter to $3.9 billion, with in commission income of $616 million, 465% higher than the same period a year ago.
“Astoundingly, we are investing in many compelling long-term growth drivers, counting end-to-end innovation with a new center in Shanghai, state of the art manufacturing in Asia/Pacific, global online and consumer analytics,” stated Estée Lauder CEO Fabrizio Freda in the company’s Q3 2021 press release.
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British American Tobacco
- Market value: $89.5 billion
- Bonus yield: 7.7%
- Analysts’ opinion: 4 Strong Buy, 0 Buy, 0 Hold, 0 Sell, 0 Strong Sell
Tobacco companies like British American Tobacco (BTI, $39.01) are working to reduce the health impact of their harvest to sell a touch to someone environmental, social and power (ESG) investors that they’re not so lethal.
In a June presentation at the Deutsche Bank Global Consumer Talks, BTI’s Chief Marketing Officer Kingsley Wheaton discussed the company’s approach in the years ahead.
“Our purpose, A Better Tomorrow, is ‘to reduce the health impact of our affair.’ We want to promote smokers who would if not take up again to smoke, to switch absolutely to scientifically-substantiated reduced risk alternatives,” Wheaton stated.
“Given the health impact of cigarettes, that is the utmost role that we can make to society. And, in so doing, it will drive long-term, sustainable growth of our affair. So, as we win, society wins.”
That might sound like wishful thought, but BTI is the only tobacco stock in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. Its goals include generating 5 billion British pounds ($6.9 billion) in annual “New Category” revenue by 2025 and attracting 50 million patrons of non-explosive harvest by 2030.
As part of this go into new categories, British American Tobacco in March entered into a investigate and enhancement collaboration with OrganiGram, a Canada-based cannabis producer. As part of the link, BTI bought 19.9% of OrganiGram for $175 million.
How far has British American Tobacco gotten in its approach?
It has approximately 15 million customers buying its vaping devices and using its heated tobacco and oral nicotine pouches. This compares to around 140 million cigarette smokers.
It’s got a long way to go, but it’s on the right path – and it’s surely one of the best consumer staples stocks to watch going forward.
- Market value: $37.5 billion
- Bonus yield: 2.6%
- Analysts’ opinion: 2 Strong Buy, 3 Buy, 8 Hold, 1 Sell, 0 Strong Sell
Back in August 2015, liberal shareholder Nelson Peltz bought 7% of Sysco (SYY, $73.22) to become the foodservice point’s largest shareholder. Peltz paid roughly $1.6 billion for his 42 million shares. Today, those shares would be worth approximately $3.1 billion.
At the time, Peltz felt the company’s margins could be better. The billionaire shareholder also felt it could return more capital to shareholders through buybacks and dividends. Peltz is still one of Sysco’s largest shareholders, even if the number of shares held has dropped to 20.6 million.
Sysco generates 62% of its sales from restaurants. As a result, COVID-19 did a number on its affair. But, despite the challenges it faced, it has a 16% market share in the U.S. and serves approximately half the country’s self-determining restaurants.
Over the past year, it has picked up affair from restaurants, large and small, adding $1.8 billion of net new affair with inhabitant brands such as Panera Bread and Wendy’s (WEN) and more than 13,000 local customers.
SYY has made five strategic pillars of growth – future horizons, digital, harvest and solutions, supply chains and consumer teams – that it believes will help it grow 1.5 times quicker than its peers through the end of fiscal 2024.
Additionally, Sysco announced some M&A news earlier this year, saying it would buy Greco and Sons. This is a leading self-determining Italian sphere point with $800 million in annual revenue generated from 10 delivery centers across the U.S. Greco and Sons serves more than 8,000 customers.
Sysco is still improving. In its fiscal third quarter finished March 27, the company’s sales declined 13.7% to $11.8 billion, while its non-GAAP (commonly usual accounting doctrine) in commission profit fell 32% to $256.2 million.
But, for the first 39 weeks of its fiscal 2021, Sysco’s free cash flow arrived at $1.2 billion, up $760.1 million from the year prior. It’s a sign profitable affair is coming back – and SYY could be one of the best consumer staples stocks going forward.
- Market value: $36.8 billion
- Bonus yield: 1.8%
- Analysts’ opinion: 3 Strong Buy, 5 Buy, 10 Hold, 1 Sell, 0 Strong Sell
As part of its trend toward in excellent health harvest, Hershey (HSY, $177.57) concluded its acquisition of Lily’s on June 25 for $425 million. Lily’s was founded by Cynthia Tice in 2010 as a way for her to quit sugar but still delight in a sweet treat from time to time. The company’s harvest have no sugar added.
When HSY announced the acquisition in May, it said that Lily’s would be a welcome addendum to its better-for-you (BFY) choice.
“Cynthia (Tice) had the vision that patrons wanted a better-for-you option in confections and today 80% of adults want to cut back on their sugar intake,” Lily’s CEO Jane Miller stated in May, as reported by CStoreDecisions.com. “By joining the Hershey’s family of brands, Lily’s will become a platform confection brand making BFY options easily accessible to all patrons.”
In June, HSY discussed its growth plans. The company’s investigate has found that one in four online buys happened later a visit to a corporal store selling Hershey harvest.
Additionally, it has found that 55%-70% of customers, whether online or in-store, hold bonus items that weren’t on their first shopping list, as long as plenty of growth opportunities for the consumer staples stock.
In the first quarter finished April 4, Hershey sales hit $2.3 billion, 12.7% higher than a year earlier. As a result, the company’s adjusted return augmented 17.8% to $1.92 per share.
At the median of its 2021 guidance, Hershey estimates 5% sales growth, 200 basis points (a basis point is one-one hundredth of a percentage point) higher than its before guidance. It also expects adjusted return per share (EPS) of $6.86 at the median, 9% higher than in 2020.
Hershey now has a price/cash flow (P/CF) ratio of 18x, vaguely less than its five-year average of 18.6x.
- Market value: $34.2 billion
- Bonus yield: 1.0%
- Analysts’ opinion: 1 Strong Buy, 0 Buy, 10 Hold, 2 Sell, 4 Strong Sell
Brown-Forman (BF.B, $72.78), the maker of Jack Daniel’s, had a practically strong year in fiscal 2021, which finished April 30. Sales grew by 6% to $3.5 billion, while in commission profit augmented 7% to $1.2 billion.
Plus, BF.B generated free cash flow of $755 million in 2021, 23.6% higher than a year earlier. A huge reason for this was its routine in the U.S., where it generates approximately half its overall sales. It had underlying net sales of 10% in the U.S. in 2021, its best year of domestic growth in over 20 years.
Key contributors to this growth built-in the company’s premium bourbon, tequila and Jack Daniel’s ready-to-drink (RTD) line, which offset poor sales in Travel Retail – an area that got hit by COVID-19. According to BF.B’s fiscal fourth-quarter 2021 talks call transcript, JD RTD accounted for 12 million cases across all its markets.
Thanks to the premiumization of alcohol, the company’s high-end brands, such as Woodford Reserve, Ancient Forester, Benriach and Herradura, take up again to grow by double digits. That’s dodgy to change in the near term.
Despite higher input costs, which lowered its yucky margin by 270 basis points, Brown-Forman still augmented its in commission margin in 2021 to 33.7%, 130 basis points higher than a year earlier.
In fiscal 2022, Brown-Forman expects to grow the top and bottom lines by 4%-6% on a year-over-year basis. You’re likely not going to get rich owning Brown-Forman, but as far as consumer staples stocks go, it’s an exceptional guilty play over the long haul.
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Archer-Daniels-Midland
- Market value: $32.8 billion
- Bonus yield: 2.5%
- Analysts’ opinion: 8 Strong Buy, 3 Buy, 3 Hold, 1 Sell, 0 Strong Sell
Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM, $58.78) is one of the world’s leading agricultural processors, with approximately 800 conveniences served by more than 39,100 employees in 200 countries. A public company since 1924, it has paid dividends for 89 consecutive years and is a member of the Bonus Nobles.
The company is now transforming the way it does affair to deliver the best doable consumer encounter at the lowest cost. At the start, it projected to find $1.2 billion in annual cost savings by the end of 2020, but instead, it found $1.3 billion.
As a result of its cost-cutting events, ADM generated adjusted in commission profits of $2.1 billion in fiscal 2020, up 8.9% from the year prior.
In the first quarter, ADM’s adjusted in commission profit augmented 86% to $1.2 billion. This was due to noteworthy donations from all three of its in commission segments, counting an 84% year-over-year enhancement in its Ag Air force and Oilseeds affair, which fiscal proclamation for 65% of overall profits.
ADM just found itself in hot water over a South Carolina grain winch it sold to former Farming Desk Sonny Perdue’s company AGrowStar. The sale happened weeks before Perdue was appointed to the spot by former Head Donald Trump.
AGrowStar paid $250,000 for the grain winch, while ADM bought it for $5.5 million in 2010. Some have questioned the timing of the bargain basement priced sale. ADM argued that the grain winch was an underperforming asset making it trying to sell for a better price. It’s most likely water under the bridge.
ADM’s affair is humanizing, and that shows in the stock’s routine over the past year. Particularly, the shares are up more than 46% in the last 52 weeks. Moreover, investors attracted in consumer staples stocks can expect the excellent times to take up again for this one into 2022.
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Coca-Cola Europacific Partners
- Market value: $28.5 billion
- Bonus yield: 2.7%
- Analysts’ opinion: 7 Strong Buy, 3 Buy, 3 Hold, 0 Sell, 0 Strong Sell
U.K.-based Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP, $62.30) has a history with Coca-Cola (KO) that goes back to 1904. Today, CCEP is the largest bottler of Coke globally with annual revenue of 13.5 billion Euros ($16.0 billion) and a collective market of more than 600 million patrons across 29 countries.
In May, Coca-Cola European Partners merged with Australian-based Coca-Cola Amatil to form CCEP. The acquisition of Coca-Cola Amatil accelerates the company’s revenue growth by 25%, while also giving CCEP access to the valuable Australian and New Zealand markets.
On a pro forma basis, the two companies sold more than 3 billion cases of product in 2020, 60% of which was Coca-Cola. Energy drinks and other flavored drinks made up another 25% of shipments. By 2025, CCEP expects its total addressable market to grow to 138 billion Euros ($163 billion).
Coca-Cola European Partners itself was the result of three KO partners coming collectively in 2016.
The company is making strides on the ESG front, too, and expects all of its vehicles to be gripping or low-emanation by 2030. Coca-Cola Europacific Partners’ gripping vehicles (EVs) now account for 5% of the more than 8,000 light vehicles in its fleet.
CCEP is one of the more pricey consumer staples stocks on this list at the moment. It has a P/CF ratio of 16.1x, which is 42% higher than its five-year average. But, the company’s trailing 12-month free cash flow is $1.1 billion for a FCF yield of 3.9%.
Given the company’s growth the makings, its FCF yield is more than evenhanded.
- Market value: $11.3 billion
- Bonus yield: N/A
- Analysts’ opinion: 4 Strong Buy, 4 Buy, 7 Hold, 0 Sell, 1 Strong Sell
Boston Beer (SAM, $919.55) has come down a lot since hitting its 52-week high of $1,349.98 in late April. This provides investors with an exceptional chance to buy the maker of Samuel Adams and Dogfish Head beer, Truly Hard Seltzer, Mad Orchard Cider and Twisted Tea Hard Iced Tea.
Credit Suisse analysts just upgraded SAM stock to Go one better than from Neutral (the equivalents of Buy and Hold, correspondingly). They also augmented the 12-month target price for the shares by 14% to $1,490.
One reason for the upgrade is that the company’s Truly Hard Seltzer brand is gaining ground on White Claw, the diligence leader, and seltzer growth is probable to account for 10% of the overall alcohol drink market by 2025. This, along with a reopening economy, will drive annual revenue and return increases for SAM of 23% and 20%, correspondingly, over the next three years, the analysts say.
There is no doubt that affair is going well.
In late April, Boston Beer reported Q1 2021 results that built-in a 65% boost in sales to $545.1 million, while its net income augmented 260% over last year to $65.6 million.
“The Truly brand has now reached a market share of over 28%, accounting for approximately 40% of all growth cases in the hard seltzer category, which is two times greater than the next largest growth brand,” the company’s Q1 2021 press release stated.
SAM expects shipments to boost between 40% and 50% for 2021, with yucky margins as high as 47%. As a result, investors seeking out growth in consumer staples stocks can expect return for this one to be at or near record levels in 2021.
Boston Beer’s price/return growth (PEG ratio) is now 1.4x, nearly half its five-year average of 2.6x.
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Casey’s General Stores
- Market value: $7.2 billion
- Bonus yield: 0.7%
- Analysts’ opinion: 5 Strong Buy, 0 Buy, 7 Hold, 1 Sell, 0 Strong Sell
In 2021, Casey’s General Stores (CASY, $193.65) bought 49 properties in the Oklahoma market from Canadian convenience store machinist Alimentation Couche-Tard for $39 million. The sale was part of Couche-Tard’s strategic review, which will include it selling an bonus 306 North American locations over the next year.
Fascinatingly, Couche-Tard tried to buy Casey’s in 2010 but finished up walking away after CASY shareholders failed to elect its slate of directors. Couche-Tard offered $38.50 a share. The shares have augmented roughly fivefold or 16% compounded annually in the 11 years since.
Casey’s reported its fiscal fourth-quarter results in June. Fiscal 2021 built-in a slight drop in revenue to $8.7 billion from $9.2 billion in 2020. But, its return per share augmented 18% year-over-year to $8.38.
The machinist of convenience stores opened 36 net new locations in 2021. It expects to add approximately 200 stores in fiscal 2022.
On July 8, the company announced the appointment of BJ’s Restaurants (BJRI) CEO Greg Trojan to its board. Earlier in Trojan’s career, he ran California Pizza Kitchen when PepsiCo owned it. In addendum to being the third-largest convenience store chain in the U.S., Casey’s is also the fifth-largest pizza chain.
Casey’s refined fiscal 2021 with free cash flow of $336 million, up much from $78 million a year earlier.
- Market value: $4.9 billion
- Bonus yield: N/A
- Analysts’ opinion: 6 Strong Buy, 4 Buy, 0 Hold, 0 Sell, 0 Strong Sell
For those unfamiliar with Nomad Foods (NOMD, $27.58), it is a U.K.-based frozen foods company whose brands include Birds Eye, Findus and Iglo. It sells its harvest in 13 countries across Western Europe.
In NOMD’s November 2020 Shareholder Day presentation, CEO Stefan Descheemaeker laid out the company’s four key post, which include plans to breed adjusted free cash flow of 1.5 billion Euros ($1.8 billion) over the next five years.
Nomad generates 100% of its revenue from frozen foods. Fish is the largest category, accounting for 40% of its sales. Other noteworthy categories include vegetables (19%) and potatoes (10%).
NOMD is the third-largest branded frozen food company in the world, behind only ConAgra (CAG) and Nestle (NSRGY). It is by far the largest in Western Europe. Nomad holds a strong market share spot in Europe for both peas (56%) and fish fingers (64%).
As for the plant-based foods passage, the company’s Green Cuisine brand is rising a strong later. In the U.K., Green Cuisine has captured 8% of the market share for plant-based frozen foods.
“We’ve freely said for Green Cuisine, we want to reach £100m very quickly,” Nomad Foods’ U.K. Administration Boss Wayne Hudson told The Grocer in June.
In May, NOMD reported strong first-quarter results that built-in organic revenue growth of 1.8% and a 42% boost in adjusted EPS. The company expects to deliver a fifth consecutive year of organic revenue (3%-5%) and adjusted return per share (11%-15%) growth in 2021.
- Market value: $3.3 billion
- Bonus yield: 0.9%
- Analysts’ opinion: 1 Strong Buy, 0 Buy, 0 Hold, 0 Sell, 0 Strong Sell
It’s been nearly eight years since The Washington Post Company was renamed Graham Worth (GHC, $655.50) to reflect the sale of the iconic newspaper to billionaire Jeff Bezos in 2013.
How has it performed? Up until the past year, not very well.
But, over the past 52 weeks, it’s come alive, generating a total return of 91.4%, and is up 22.9% in 2021. Of course, these returns don’t include Cable ONE (CABO). The telecommunications firm was spun off in July 2015 into its own freely traded company. As a result, Graham Worth stakeholders expected one new share in Cable One for every share held of the parent.
Graham Worth’ affair wellbeing include Kaplan, the test schooling people, Graham Media, a pool of U.S. box stations, several manufacturing manufacturers and a home healthcare affair, among other ventures.
Sorry to say, if you’re looking for pearls of wisdom about the holding company, you’re out of luck. Only one analyst covers the stock, though they rate GHC a Strong Buy with a target price of $780, indicating probable upside of 19% over the next 12 months or so.
Graham Worth’ most recent addendum to the company is Leaf Group, a affair that develops online brands built around lifestyle categories, counting fitness and wellness. The company paid $323 million for Leaf, and the transaction closed on June 14.
In the first quarter finished March 31, Graham Worth’ revenues fell by 2.7% year-over-year to $712.5 million. But, in commission income jumped 319% to $33.8 million.
If you like owning consumer staples stocks with lots of moving parts, GHC could be for you.