Student loan rules are quietly reshaping household budgets, and the new U.S. Repayment Assistance Plan could squeeze married borrowers just as everyday essentials still command a big share of paychecks. That pressure may matter for consumer staples stocks, where spending on groceries and household goods often stays front and center even when wallets feel tighter. This article walks through three stocks from our screener that stand out under this new reality.

The three consumer staples stocks below are just a sample, and the full screen surfaced 25 more large companies with similarly compelling stories that are not covered here. If you want to go straight to the source data and identify your own ideas, head into the Consumer Staples Stocks screener to filter, analyze, and focus on the highest conviction opportunities.

Nature's Sunshine Products (NATR)

Nature's Sunshine Products is a long established supplements and personal care company that sells everything from immune support and cardiovascular formulas to lotions and aloe vera gel, largely through a network of independent consultants under the Nature’s Sunshine and Synergy Worldwide brands. The business is heavily skewed to Asia, which brings in about $226 million of revenue, followed by North America at about $148 million, Europe at about $96 million, and Latin America and other regions at about $22 million. The stock sits in small cap territory with a market value of roughly $288 million.

Nature's Sunshine Products sits at the crossroads of everyday wellness spending and a tougher backdrop for household budgets, which is exactly where many investors are hunting for resilient ideas. The company is leaning into higher margin digital and subscription sales, has been active with buybacks, and recently refreshed its finance and North America leadership, all while analysts see room between the current share price and their valuation work. At the same time, softer guidance, exposure to more volatile Asian markets, and insider selling mean this is not a simple “set and forget” story. The real question is whether the current set up compensates you for those trade offs.

Nature's Sunshine Products sits at an interesting crossroads. Subscription momentum, buybacks and fresh leadership hint at a story investors may be underpricing, but the real twist shows up in the 3 key rewards and 1 important warning sign

Build your own wellness and staples shortlist

Nature's Sunshine Products and the two other stocks in this article all came out of a single screener, but the real edge comes when you shape the filters yourself. Use our flexible Screener to combine valuation, quality and risk checks, or start with any of our curated Investing Ideas.

Village Farms International (VFF)

Village Farms International combines a long running greenhouse produce operation with a growing cannabis business across Canada, the U.S. and the Netherlands, alongside a smaller clean energy segment. Most recent segment data shows about $174 million from Cannabis Canada plus a segment adjustment of about $52 million, underscoring how important cannabis has become to the overall mix. The stock sits in small cap territory with a market value of roughly $238 million.

Village Farms International sits in a sweet spot for this student loan squeeze story. Fresh produce and cannabis based wellness products target everyday spending, even when discretionary budgets are tighter, and the company is already profitable with earnings growing about 15.2% a year over the past 5 years and high quality earnings flagged in recent reports. At the same time, expansion in international cannabis exports and new Netherlands capacity could reward you only if regulatory risks, funding entirely via external borrowing and swings in net income, such as Q2 2026 profits of $7.15 million versus $26.5 million a year earlier, do not undermine the thesis.

Village Farms International looks like a greenhouse story that many investors may be overlooking, with cannabis now central to revenue and profitability. Step into the analyst forecasts for Village Farms International to see what could happen if regulatory winds shift again.

Marks and Spencer Group (LSE:MKS)

Marks and Spencer Group is a long standing UK retailer that sells food, clothing, homewares, beauty products and runs an Ocado partnership, so it sits firmly in the everyday spending bucket that often holds up when households trim extras. Food is the core engine at about £9.7b of revenue, followed by Fashion, Home & Beauty at about £3.8b and Ocado at about £3.2b, with International contributing around £543 million. The stock is a large cap at roughly £8.5b.

Marks and Spencer Group stands out in this student loan squeeze story because it leans into food and household staples that many families keep buying even as higher repayments eat into pay packets. Store refreshes and new openings, such as the July Weymouth site, and digital pushes such as the Amazon Netherlands launch, show a retailer still willing to invest. The catch is a rich P/E, reliance on external borrowing and mixed international and Ocado profitability, so the key question is whether the everyday appeal of M&S food and clothing really offsets those pressure points.

Marks and Spencer Group looks like a food led powerhouse with a rich P/E that many investors may be misreading. Scan the 2 key rewards and 2 important warning signs to see what might be hiding behind the everyday shopping story

Seeking Fresh Alternatives Beyond These Staples

Fresh stock ideas can change quickly. Some quietly build breakout momentum while others decline just as interest increases. Review these under the radar lists before they become widely followed, and consider them carefully.

• Spot under followed growth stories that have solid balance sheets with the curated list of solid balance sheet and fundamentals (48 results) before they attract broader investor attention.
• Look for early movers in robotics, automation and next generation manufacturing by reviewing the hand picked 37 robotics and automation stocks while adoption trends may still be under the radar.
• Track energy and infrastructure developments with the focused set of 89 nuclear energy infrastructure stocks that may be positioned to respond to changes in demand for reliable baseload power.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.