DEFENSIVE STOCKS
VOL. XCIV, NO. 247
Updated June 2026 · Top 500 defensive stocks
Best Defensive Stocks 2026: Top 500 Recession-Resistant Stocks
A current defensive stocks list ranked across defensive risk profile, business quality, balance sheet resilience, conservative value and payout, and investment discipline.
Defensive stocks get searched most often when investors want a calmer research list for recession risk, volatility spikes, or uncertain markets. This defensive stock ranking starts with the Liquid North Atlantic universe, then ranks businesses by realized volatility, market sensitivity, intermediate momentum, durable profitability, balance sheet resilience, conservative valuation, shareholder return, and restrained asset growth.
For research and educational purposes only · Not financial advice
Best Defensive Stocks to Buy Now? Top 500 Ranked List
Top 500 stocks in the ranking
As of 2026-06-15
| Rank | Ticker | Flag | Company | MCap | Risk | Qual | Resil | Value | Invest | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | SCFNS | Socfinasia SA | $531M | 96.7 | 92.4 | 98.6 | 97.5 | 93.9 | 99.99 | |
| 02 | SIP | SIPEF SA | $1.1B | 89.1 | 99.1 | 98.4 | 95.8 | 87.9 | 99.97 | |
| 03 | MPE | M.P. Evans Group Plc | $1.1B | 89.9 | 95.3 | 99.7 | 89.4 | 86.2 | 99.96 | |
| 04 | NTH | Naturhouse Health SA | $178M | 92.4 | 90.2 | 96.0 | 74.2 | 97.9 | 99.95 | |
| 05 | VAN | Van de Velde NV | $447M | 78.3 | 94.3 | 98.3 | 79.3 | 91.9 | 99.93 | |
| 06 | ALTPC | Société Marseillaise du Tunnel Prado Carénage SA | $200M | 93.2 | 99.5 | 77.2 | 86.8 | 90.3 | 99.92 | |
| 07 | TEL1L | Telia Lietuva AB | $1.4B | 92.7 | 96.1 | 93.6 | 86.0 | 36.6 | 99.91 | |
| 08 | DR | Medical Facilities Corp. | $234M | 90.1 | 96.0 | 86.5 | 99.3 | 86.8 | 99.89 | |
| 09 | VEI | Veidekke ASA | $2.6B | 57.1 | 97.0 | 94.5 | 86.2 | 51.0 | 99.88 | |
| 10 | SOFAF | Socfinaf SA | $497M | 82.2 | 99.9 | 88.6 | 96.7 | 70.5 | 99.86 | |
| 11 | APG1L | Apranga AB | $242M | 90.7 | 96.6 | 78.5 | 86.1 | 62.2 | 99.85 | |
| 12 | HTO | Hellenic Telecommunications Organization SA | $9B | 70.4 | 98.2 | 90.7 | 87.1 | 63.2 | 99.84 | |
| 13 | ET | Evertz Technologies Ltd. | $872M | 87.1 | 98.1 | 93.7 | 60.9 | 89.1 | 99.82 | |
| 14 | CFX | Colefax Group Plc | $98M | 90.2 | 99.3 | 65.7 | 97.3 | 86.8 | 99.81 | |
| 15 | OFN | Orell Füssli AG | $377M | 92.9 | 93.8 | 99.0 | 80.1 | 13.0 | 99.80 | |
| 16 | HUG | Huuuge, Inc. | $232M | 79.4 | 84.3 | 96.8 | 99.9 | 95.4 | 99.78 | |
| 17 | HT | Hrvatski Telekom DD | $3.6B | 96.2 | 89.1 | 98.3 | 78.4 | 61.8 | 99.77 | |
| 18 | MTEL | Magyar Telekom Telecommunications Plc | $8.4B | 54.1 | 95.5 | 91.4 | 90.0 | 44.9 | 99.76 | |
| 19 | RICHT | Chemical Works of Gedeon Richter Plc | $7.3B | 79.0 | 88.5 | 95.0 | 97.0 | 40.3 | 99.74 | |
| 20 | WPK | Winpak Ltd. | $1.7B | 81.8 | 88.0 | 99.1 | 89.4 | 73.1 | 99.73 |
Bucket Distribution
Universe-adjusted annualized return by rank bucket. The zero line is the average return across the ranked universe.
Universe
7.5%
Benchmark
+2.0%
Top
+5.1%
Resilience vs Quality
Each flag is a ranked stock at its listing country. Larger flags rank higher overall; the dashed lines mark the group averages.
Defensive Stocks List: Low Volatility, Quality, and Balance Sheet Resilience
Searches for defensive stocks, defensive stocks to buy, and recession-resistant stocks are usually looking for the same thing: a way to compare companies that may offer steadier equity exposure when volatility rises. This page is not a buy list, but it gives a current ranked shortlist built from realized volatility, beta, intermediate momentum, business quality, balance sheet resilience, valuation, payout, and asset-growth discipline.
The model is not a classic sector screen for consumer staples, utilities, and healthcare. The latest defensive stocks portfolio is spread across healthcare, finance, non-energy materials, consumer non-cyclicals, technology, business services, energy, industrials, utilities, telecom, and consumer services. That mix is intentional: a stock can rank well because the measured risk profile and fundamentals are defensive, even when the sector label is not one of the traditional defensive buckets.
Backtested Strategy
Current Holdings
| Ticker | Flag | Company | Weight | Gain/Loss | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CTAS | Cintas Corp. | 4.10% | +957.21% | 91.56 | |
| MLI | Mueller Industries, Inc. | 2.43% | +137.96% | 93.68 | |
| DTM | DT Midstream, Inc. | 2.03% | +84.89% | 96.35 | |
| RS | Reliance, Inc. | 2.02% | +324.78% | 94.40 | |
| IGG | IG Group Holdings Plc | 1.98% | +68.48% | 81.89 | |
| PKN | ORLEN SA | 1.93% | +64.38% | 99.78 | |
| BWA | BorgWarner, Inc. | 1.90% | +62.09% | 96.77 | |
| MSFT | Microsoft Corp. | 1.89% | +1395.16% | 89.89 | |
| INCY | Incyte Corp. | 1.61% | +43.66% | 95.06 | |
| CPG | Compass Group Plc | 1.60% | +63.70% | 87.62 | |
| WM | Waste Management, Inc. | 1.52% | +338.11% | 93.67 | |
| CSCO | Cisco Systems, Inc. | 1.44% | +131.23% | 86.71 | |
| HIG | The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc. | 1.41% | +36.83% | 99.31 | |
| ZURN | Zurich Insurance Group AG | 1.38% | +36.88% | 96.18 | |
| MTEL | Magyar Telekom Telecommunications Plc | 1.36% | +4.91% | 99.66 | |
| ONEX | ONEX Corp. | 1.36% | +5.22% | 90.21 | |
| VPK | Royal Vopak NV | 1.36% | +27.91% | 97.14 | |
| LH | Labcorp Holdings, Inc. | 1.32% | +29.96% | 97.54 | |
| PKG | Packaging Corporation of America | 1.32% | +171.00% | 91.91 | |
| AFL | Aflac, Inc. | 1.30% | +60.99% | 95.83 |
Growth of $100,000.00
01/2006 - 06/2026
- Annualized Return
- 10.59% vs 9.57% benchmark
- Sharpe Ratio
- 0.73 vs 0.68 benchmark
- Sortino Ratio
- 0.95 vs 0.88 benchmark
- Max Drawdown
- -40.85% vs -46.61% benchmark
- Alpha
- 1.05% vs USMV benchmark
- Beta
- 0.99 vs USMV benchmark
General Info
- Period
- 2006-01-01 - 2026-06-16
- Benchmark
- MSCI Minimum Volatility (USMV:USA)
- Universe
- Liquid North Atlantic
- Number of Positions
- 100
- Rebalance Frequency
- Every 4 Weeks
- Annual Turnover
- 12.31%(~12 trades/yr)
- Overall Winners
- (252/388) 64.95%
- Correlation to Benchmark
- 0.95
Performance by Calendar Year
* from 01/02/06·** to 06/15/26
Advanced Metrics
- Information Ratio
- 0.12 active-return efficiency
- Calmar Ratio
- 0.26 return vs drawdown
- Volatility
- 12.55% vs 12.00% benchmark
- Ulcer Index
- 7.84% vs 9.11% benchmark
Recent Trades
As of 2026-06-16
The most recent simulated buys and sells from the latest rebalances.
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- Currency
- USD
- Starting Capital
- $100,000
- Sizing
- Static weight
- Position Size
- 1.0%
- Positions
- 100
- Rebalance
- Every 4 weeks
Universe
This strategy uses the Liquid North Atlantic universe. It is broader than the MSCI Minimum Volatility benchmark universe, while the ranking system supplies the defensive risk, quality, balance sheet, valuation, and investment-discipline tilt.
Position Sizing
The simulated portfolio targets 100 long positions at about 1% each and rebalances every 4 weeks. A 30% buy constraint lets each purchase flex around the target weight, so small cash differences do not block a trade. Immediate buyback is disabled.
Buy Rules
New buys must be liquid and reasonably sized: 63-day average daily dollar volume above $5 million, market cap above $5 billion, and proposed trade size below 5% of 20-day average daily volume. The model also caps concentration by requiring sector weight below 25% and industry weight below 8%, then rejects names with high one-year correlation to the existing portfolio through MaxCorrel(251,5) < 0.85.
Sell Rules
Holdings are sold when the defensive rank falls below 80, which removes stocks whose risk, quality, balance sheet, value, or investment-discipline profile has weakened. The strategy also exits positions that fall below the liquidity and size floors: 63-day average daily dollar volume under $3 million or market cap under $3 billion.
Trading Costs
Trades fill at the average of the next high, low, and twice the close, with $0.005 per share commission and no management fee. Variable slippage is included, and the model does not use margin.
Bias Controls
The backtest uses point-in-time data with preliminary fundamentals, so each rebalance only sees information that would have been available at that date. The universe includes delisted stocks and historical constituents, which helps reduce survivorship bias instead of testing only companies that survived to today.
About these models
These are illustrative backtests, not portfolios to copy. They show how a hypothetical strategy built on the ranking might have behaved after rebalancing rules, trading costs, timing, and position sizing are layered on top. Results are not actual trading returns, not investment advice, and do not guarantee future performance. We validate that each ranking can sort stocks within its universe in a historically useful way, but a good ranking can still lead to better or worse outcomes once it becomes a tradable model.
This top 500 defensive stocks list is built for investors researching lower-volatility, cash-generative companies rather than high-beta cyclicals. It favors lower realized volatility, lower beta, durable profitability, earnings quality, manageable leverage, shareholder return, reasonable valuation, and restrained asset growth.
Each stock is scored from 0 to 100 across defensive risk profile, business quality, balance sheet resilience, conservative value and payout, and conservative investment. Higher block scores are better. The final score is the weighted blend of those blocks, so the list does not rely only on low beta or sector labels.
Ranking System
Every stock in the universe is scored 0 to 100 across five composites: defensive risk profile, business quality, balance sheet resilience, conservative value and payout, and conservative investment. The factor scores roll up into the block scores in the table above, and the weighted total drives the final rank for this defensive stocks list.
Defensive Risk Profile35% weight
Favors stocks with lower three-year and one-year weekly realized volatility, lower three-year beta, and positive 12-month momentum that skips the most recent month.
- Three Year Weekly Volatility
- One Year Weekly Volatility
- Beta3Y
- Twelve Minus One Month Total Return
Business Quality25% weight
Scores durable profitability, earnings quality, and Piotroski fundamental strength.
- ROI 5Y Average
- Gross Margin 5Y Average
- Operating Margin 5Y Average
- Accruals To Assets
Balance Sheet Resilience20% weight
Prefers lower leverage and stronger solvency or coverage ratios.
- Debt To Capital
- Debt To Assets
- Interest Coverage TTM
- Interest Coverage 5Y Average
Conservative Value And Payout15% weight
Balances shareholder yield and free cash flow yield with reasonable EV/EBITDA and P/E checks.
- Shareholder Yield
- FCF Yield
- EV To EBITDA TTM
- P/E Excluding Extraordinary Items TTM
Conservative Investment5% weight
Penalizes aggressive asset growth, favoring companies that have not expanded the asset base too quickly.
- Total Asset Growth
Defensive Stocks FAQ
What are defensive stocks?
Defensive stocks are companies whose sales, cash flows, and share prices may be less sensitive to economic cycles than highly cyclical businesses. They often come from consumer staples, healthcare, utilities, telecom, waste management, and selected service or infrastructure-like industries.
Are defensive stocks the same as defense stocks?
No. Defensive stocks are companies with steadier demand, lower cyclicality, or lower volatility. Defense stocks usually means aerospace and military contractors. Some defense contractors can have defensive traits, but the search intents are different.
What are the best defensive stocks right now?
The table highlights the current top 500 defensive stocks from the latest published strategy snapshot. It is a ranked research list, not a personal recommendation or a guaranteed list of stocks to buy.
Are defensive stocks and recession-proof stocks the same thing?
Not exactly. Recession-proof stocks is a common search phrase, but no stock is truly recession-proof. This ranking looks for recession-resistant traits such as steadier revenue, positive free cash flow, lower beta, lower volatility, manageable leverage, and less cyclical industry exposure.
How does this defensive stock ranking work?
The strategy uses the Liquid North Atlantic universe, then ranks stocks across defensive risk profile, business quality, balance sheet resilience, conservative value and payout, and conservative investment discipline.
What does the Defensive Stocks ranking measure?
Each stock receives a 0 to 100 score across defensive risk profile, business quality, balance sheet resilience, conservative value and payout, and conservative investment. The final score is the weighted blend of those blocks.
Are defensive stocks always safe?
No. Defensive businesses can still be overpriced, overleveraged, disrupted, or exposed to company-specific problems. This ranking is a research shortlist, not a claim that the stocks cannot lose money.
Are these defensive stocks to buy?
No. This page is for research and education only. Searches for defensive stocks to buy usually need a second step: company-specific due diligence, valuation work, risk review, position sizing, and fit with your own investment process.
Are low beta stocks always defensive?
No. Low beta can help identify stocks with lower historical market sensitivity, but it is not enough by itself. This ranking combines beta with realized volatility, intermediate momentum, durable profitability, earnings quality, balance sheet resilience, conservative valuation, shareholder yield, and asset-growth discipline.
How often is the defensive stocks ranking updated?
The ranking is designed to update regularly. Check the as-of date above the table to see how current the listed stocks are.
More Rankings & Systems
Feedback
Spot something confusing, stale, or worth improving? Send feedback on the ranking, strategy assumptions, holdings table, or explanation.
Curation & Accuracy
This directory blends AI‑assisted discovery with human curation. Entries are reviewed, edited, and organized with the goal of expanding coverage and sharpening quality over time. Your feedback helps steer improvements (because no single human can capture everything all at once).
Details change. Pricing, features, and availability may be incomplete or out of date. Treat listings as a starting point and verify on the provider’s site before making decisions. If you spot an error or a gap, send a quick note and I’ll adjust.