Walmart’s (WMT) latest quarterly results are drawing renewed attention to the consumer staples sector, even as the retail giant’s stock has climbed 13.6% in 2026.
The gains mark a solid outperformance relative to the broader market, underscoring steady investor demand for defensive names amid ongoing macro uncertainty.
Despite that advance, Walmart does not rank among the very top performers within the S&P 500’s (SP500) consumer staples cohort. Of the 38 staples constituents in the benchmark index, Walmart currently sits 16th on a year-to-date basis, placing it outside the top 10 leaders in the group.
The sector as a whole has benefited from a rotation toward companies viewed as offering stable earnings, durable cash flows, and pricing power.
Below is a list of the 10 best-performing consumer staples stocks in the S&P 500 so far this year, ranked by year-to-date returns.
- Bunge Global (BG) +36.7% YTD.
- Church & Dwight (CHD) +22.4% YTD.
- Clorox (CLX) +22.2% YTD.
- Hershey (HSY) +22% YTD.
- Sysco (SYY) +21.1% YTD.
- Colgate-Palmolive (CL) +20.9% YTD.
- Target (TGT) +18.3% YTD.
- Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM) +17.4% YTD.
- Lamb Weston (LW) +16.6% YTD.
- Altria (MO) +15.8% YTD.
Consumer Staples ETFs: (XLP), (VDC), (IYK), (FSTA), (KXI), and (RSPS).