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September is living up to its connotation of being the most volatile month for the stock market but Dole (DOLE - Free Report) and Pilgrim’s Pride (PPC - Free Report) are two consumer food stocks that may be able to offer defensive safety in the portfolio.

Both consumer staples companies have landed spots on the Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) list. Even better, in addition to having an “A” Zacks Style Scores grade for Value they have beta ratios under 1.0, suggesting they should be less volatile than the broader market.

Dole is a Leading Fruit Producer

As a leading producer of fresh bananas and pineapples, Dole also has a growing presence among berries, avocados, and organic produce. Although DOLE has soared over +20% year to date, it has a low-risk reading with its beta ratio at 0.84.

To that point, Dole’s offerings are a mainstay among dietary consumption, and its stock still stands out at $15 and 13.2X forward earnings. This is roughly on par with its Zacks Agriculture-Operations Industry average and a nice discount to the S&P 500’s 22.8X forward earnings multiple despite topping the impressive performances of the broader indexes in recent years.

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Dole’s valuation magnifies its affordable price tag as annual earnings are expected to dip -2% in fiscal 2024 but are projected to rebound and climb 19% in FY25 to $1.44 per share.

Plus, DOLE has a generous 2.01% annual dividend yield and earnings estimate revisions are up over 5% in the last 30 days for FY24 and FY25.

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Pilgrim’s Pride is Growing as a Poultry Producer

Producing value-added chicken products, Pilgrim’s has strived to strengthen its prepared foods category with an emphasis on organic products including non-antibiotic produce.   

Checking in with a beta ratio of 0.82, Pilgrim’s stock has skyrocketed over +60% YTD but still trades at just 9.4X forward earnings. Trading around $45, PPC still offers a significant discount to the benchmark and the Zacks Food-Meat Products Industry average of 17.6X forward earnings.

More intriguing is that Pilgrim’s stock is also at a discount to its decade-long high of 25.1X forward earnings and the median of 11.1X during this period.

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Furthermore, Pilgrim's checks an “A” Zacks Styles Scores grade for Growth as well with EPS now forecasted to increase 183% this year to $4.79 per share versus $1.69 a share in 2023.

While earnings are projected to be virtually flat next year, EPS estimates for FY24 and FY25 have increased over 13% in the last 60 days respectively.

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Bottom Line

Seeing as consumer food stocks tend to be defensive investments, now appears to be a good time to buy Dole and Pilgrim's Pride shares considering their increased profitability. Low beta measurements and attractive P/E valuations also attest to this, especially with earnings estimate revisions on the rise.  

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