Well-known companies include Altria Group (Marlboro cigarettes) and Diageo (Johnnie Walker and other liquor brands). Using a single purchase, you can use a consumer staples index fund, mutual fund or ETF to invest in various consumer staples. Financial advisors would recommend that non-professional investors take a diversified approach.
Solid results in this fiscal year prompted the company to increase its full-year growth guidance, which is now 6% to 8%. In the third quarter Colgate reported net sales growth of 10.5% to $4.9 billion vs. the year-ago quarter. Mondelez earns most of its sales in faster-growing markets outside North America. That creates a nice diversification opportunity, as investors get exposure to emerging markets and some insulation from a U.S. downturn.
- Consumer staples stocks are well suited for investors with low-risk tolerances.
- They also offer the potential for income and capital appreciation, as well as the potential to hedge inflation.
- A consumer staple index fund is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) or mutual fund that tracks the performance of a group of stocks in the consumer staples sector.
- We may also receive compensation if you click on certain links posted on our site.
- Cyclical stocks, meanwhile, such as in the consumer discretionary sector, will often fail to perform well.
The company also has a solid operating margin of 22.6% over the prior 12 months. For context, the same metric for competitors Colgate-Palmolive (CL) and Kimberly-Clark (KMB) is 20.9% and 14.9%, respectively. In its first quarter of fiscal 2024, PG reported $21.9 billion in net sales, up 6% from the prior year.
Walmart is also testing expansion of its in-store health-related services. Taking a page from CVS, the company is piloting Minute Clinics and will soon test in-store mammogram screenings. Those innovations should deepen Walmart’s relationship with its customer base and potentially unlock new growth channels. For many investors, the best approach to investing in a consumer index fund is long-term. You can open an account with a broker, typically from online brokers or traditional brick-and-mortar firms.
Advantages of Investing in Consumer Staples Stocks
Investors in the consumer staples sector will also want to be aware of changing regulations related to environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles. ESG regulations refer to the rules and guidelines set by governments and regulatory bodies to encourage companies to consider and report on their environmental, social, and governance practices. These regulations are designed to promote responsible and sustainable business practices, which may set investors up to select investments primed for long-term success. However, spending on goods produced and sold by the consumer staples sector tends to be far less cyclical due to the lessened price elasticity of demand. Price elasticity is an economic concept that describes the change in consumer quantity demand as prices change.
S&P Select Industry Indices Consultation on Membership Classification – Results
However, choose an active consumer staples fund carefully crafted by experienced analysts rather than a generic index-copying product. The Global Industry Classification Standard® (GICS®) assigns a company to business classifications, such as the Energy sector, according to its principal business activities. Sector is the first level of the four-tiered, hierarchical industry classification system that includes 11 sectors, 24 industry groups, 69 industries, and 158 sub-industries. The GICS assignment system uses quantitative and qualitative factors, including revenues, earnings, and market perception. GICS was developed in 1999 and is jointly managed by S&P Dow Jones Indices and MSCI. The Global Industry Classification Standard® (GICS®) assigns companies to business classifications, such as the Consumer Staples sector, according to their principal business activities.
U.S. Equities Market Attributes November 2023
Consumer staples index funds can be a great addition to your portfolio, especially if you seek strong returns and stability. Over the past decade, consumer staples ETFs have offered an average annual return of around 5% and a standard deviation of around 12%, lower than the S&P 500 Index. These ETFs are more stable investments, providing slightly better returns than other sectors.
Executive VP & COO of Eastern Division recently sold US$1.7m worth of stock
Household and personal care stocks sell cleaning products, soaps, detergents, cosmetics, and personal care products. Consumer staples are the daily goods that buttress our lmfx review livelihoods – food, beverages, paper towels, toilet paper, cosmetics, among others. If it’s a regular item on your grocery list, then it’s probably a consumer staple.
Consumer staples stocks are often contrasted with the consumer discretionary sector, which makes products we don’t need but want, such as luxury apparel, restaurant dining, and furniture. Unlike consumer staples, this sector is vulnerable to economic changes and can swing wildly when the stock market is turbulent. Although the economic outlook remains uncertain, consumers are likely to continue to need the everyday products—from https://forex-review.net/ toothpaste to toilet paper— that staples companies produce and sell. When exactly sales volumes pick up may depend on the health of the consumer and economy. However, valuations in the sector remain compelling, especially given the potential for improving profit margins. Among the hardest-hit segments was packaged foods and meats, a competitive industry due to the presence of lower-priced private-label alternatives.
CL’s Most Accurate Estimate sits at $0.86 a share four days from its next earnings release. The final step today is to look at a stock that meets our ESP qualifications. Mondelez (MDLZ) earns a Zacks Rank #3 eight days from its next quarterly earnings release on January 30, 2024, and its Most Accurate Estimate comes in at $0.79 a share.
Index funds provide a wide range of benefits to long-term investors, including an instant layer of diversification without hand-selecting individual stocks. This can be a critical consideration in the consumer staple industry, when individual stocks may be more volatile. While a consumer staple index might show less volatility than individual stocks, this also translates to lower general investment returns. The consumer staples industry is a large and diverse sector that includes companies ranging from small, niche producers to large multinational corporations. Consumer staples are products such as food, beverages, household items and other everyday goods that people buy and replace regularly. These products tend to be less sensitive to economic changes than other sectors, as people will continue to purchase them regardless of economic conditions.
Tracking the performance of this ETF is one way to gauge how the sector as a whole is doing. Get our industry-leading investment analysis, and put our research to work. While Altria Group currently has a “Hold” rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. Dock David Treece is a former licensed investment advisor and member of the FINRA Small Firm Advisory Board. His focus is on breaking down complex financial topics so readers can make informed decisions.
Below we’ll look at some top opportunities in Canada’s consumer staples sector and see if these stocks have a place in your portfolio. You can invest in the consumer staples sector through individual stocks or ETFs. Investors looking for broad exposure to the sector usually choose ETFs for diversification and convenience. As consumer demand grows for ESG compliant companies, more investors are performing fundamental analysis to determine viability in a changing consumer world.