The best consumer durable goods stocks include those of companies with well-known brands, histories of innovation, strong track records of growth, and wide or expanding operating margins. Like the consumer discretionary sector, the durable goods sector tends to be cyclical since its products are generally expensive purchases that consumers are more likely to make when the economy is strong.
During a recession, consumers are more likely to delay buying a new car or a dishwasher. For that reason, the Census Bureau's monthly durable goods report is closely watched as real-time market data and an indicator of the broader economy's health. Consumer durables, especially high-priced ones, tend to be discretionary purchases by nature.
Heading into 2025, consumer discretionary sales have been underwhelming in a number of categories due to the lingering impact of inflation and elevated interest rates. Those headwinds have weighed on durable goods in areas like home improvement, furniture, and electronics.
Durable goods sales were stable throughout 2024, with shipments up 1.6% to $3.14 trillion through the first 11 months of the year. However, new orders slipped 1.3% to $3.09 trillion.
Types
Types of consumer goods
The chart below shows how consumer durables compare with other types of consumer products, such as consumer discretionary goods and consumer staples.
| Type of Consumer Goods | Definition | Product Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Consumer durables | Consumer products that last longer than three years | Cars, furniture, appliances, electronics |
| Fast-moving consumer goods | Goods consumed soon after purchase | Food, beverages, paper products, cosmetics, tobacco |
| Consumer staples | Everyday products that consumers depend on regardless of the economic environment | Food, gasoline, medicine, cleaning products |
| Consumer discretionary goods | Goods purchased with extra or discretionary income, such as non-necessities or luxuries | Travel, entertainment, restaurants |
Largest durables
10 biggest consumer durables stocks in 2025
The consumer durables sector isn't as strictly defined as some other sectors, but the list below reflects the biggest durable companies on the market today.
| Company | Market Capitalization | Industry |
|---|---|---|
| Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) | $3.66 trillion | Consumer electronics |
| Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) | $1.27 trillion | Automobiles |
| Toyota Motor (NYSE:TM) | $253.6 billion | Automobiles |
| Dell Technologies (NYSE:DELL) | $84.9 billion | Computer hardware |
| Ferrari (NYSE:RACE) | $76.6 billion | Automobiles |
| General Motors (NYSE:GM) | $57.2 billion | Automobiles |
| Honda Motor (NYSE:HMC) | $47.2 billion | Automobiles |
| D.R. Horton (NYSE:DHI) | $44.3 billion | Homebuilding |
| Ford Motor (NYSE:F) | $38.8 billion | Automobiles |
| Stellantis (NYSE:STLA) | $37.6 billion | Automobiles |
As you can see, the list consists almost entirely of auto stocks. The automobile industry is one of the biggest in the world and dwarfs other consumer durables subsectors.
Top 3 durables
Best consumer durables stocks to buy in 2025
Consumer durables stocks encompass a wide variety of sectors, with significant overlap between consumer durables companies and sectors such as tech, home improvement, and manufacturing.
Below are three of the top consumer durables stocks on the market today. All three demonstrate the range of options available in this sector.
| Consumer Durables Stock | Ticker | Products |
|---|---|---|
| NVR | (NYSE:NVR) | Homebuilder known for asset-light strategy |
| RH | (NYSE:RH) | High-end home furnishings company |
| General Motors | (NYSE:GM) | Domestic automaker |
1. NVR
NVR is a leading homebuilder and has been a consistent outperformer in the stock market. The housing market has struggled recently due to elevated interest rates and the lock-in effect for homeowners who obtained historically low mortgage rates during the pandemic. But housing should eventually rebound as interest rates fall and pent-up demand for homebuying breaks through.
NVR has outperformed its industry through an asset-light strategy. This strategy involves negotiating rights to develop land rather than buying the land outright. This allows the company to be more flexible and easily adjust to changes in the housing market.
That discipline has paid off for the company as the stock is up more than 500% over the last 10 years. The company has a history of steadily repurchasing stock, allowing it to grow earnings per share even if the housing market remains sluggish.
2. RH
RH is the high-end furnishings company formerly known as Restoration Hardware. Although consumer durable companies are typically thought of as manufacturers or wholesale brands, RH, a vertically integrated retailer, clearly fits the category.
Like many other consumer durables companies, it outsources manufacturing but designs and sells its own furniture, including sofas, armchairs, and coffee tables, at dozens of its galleries and online.
Like most home goods stocks, RH thrived during the pandemic. But more recently, it has struggled with a slowdown in the housing market, as home sales are correlated with spending on furniture. However, the company seems to have emerged from the worst of the slowdown.
RH has been a long-time winner on the stock market, having carved out a unique brand. It has also employed a membership model to encourage repeat purchases and reward customer loyalty. More recently, the company has announced plans to expand into other businesses, including launching a streaming service devoted to architecture design and opening its own hotel and restaurant.
It's also expanding in Europe, adding galleries in major markets across the continent. CEO Gary Friedman believes the strategy will reinforce and strengthen RH's reputation for superior design and expand both the core business and the newer service businesses.
3. General Motors
General Motors has outperformed most of its traditional auto peers. The stock has long traded at a low valuation, reflecting the cyclical nature of automobiles and the slow growth of a mostly mature business.
Nonetheless, it has been able to grow by gaining market share, tapping into growth markets, like electric vehicles, and expanding operating margins by ramping sales of higher-margin vehicles, such as pickup trucks and SUVs. In 2024, GM's unit sales increased by 4% to 2.7 million in the U.S. -- its highest total since 2019 -- giving it a market share of 16.5%.
While the company has pulled the plug on Cruise, its autonomous vehicle division, the move should boost its bottom line and allow it to focus on driver assistance technology and autonomous alliances that will serve it over the long term. Meanwhile, the stock's low valuation also allows GM to boost earnings per share through buybacks.
ETF options
What about consumer durables ETFs?
Since consumer durables stocks tend to overlay a diverse range of sectors, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) don't cover them. Even so, there are sector-specific ETFs in homebuilding and autos. Some popular homebuilding ETFs include the following:
| ETF | Ticker | Expense Ratio |
|---|---|---|
| SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF | (NYSEMKT:XHB) | 0.35% |
| iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF | (BATS:ITB) | 0.39% |
| Invesco Dynamic Building & Construction ETF | (NYSEMKT:PKB) | 0.57% |
Among the top holdings of these ETFs are homebuilders, such as Lennar (LEN -2.09%) and D.R. Horton (DHI -1.83%); manufacturers, such as Masco (MAS -1.58%), which makes plumbing products; and home improvement retailers, such as Lowe's (LOW -2.7%).
If you're looking for an automotive ETF, the best choice is the First Trust NASDAQ Global Auto Index Fund (CARZ 0.85%). It has an expense ratio of 0.7% and counts Tesla, General Motors, and Toyota as its three biggest holdings.
Of the sector indexes available, the S&P 500 Consumer Discretionary Index (INDEX:S5COND) provides the best analog to consumer durables. The index tracks stocks such as Tesla, Home Depot (HD -2.21%), and Nike (NKE -2.14%).
How to analyze
How to analyze consumer durables stocks
In general, consumer durables companies are manufacturers with consumer-facing brands. Selling to the end consumer differentiates them from manufacturers that sell to other businesses or to institutions such as governments, but they are best analyzed in the same way as other manufacturers.
Investors should consider consumer durables companies' margins, especially their gross margins, which show the percentage of revenue a company keeps after it pays for expenses such as materials and manufacturing labor. Research and development expenses, where applicable, can provide insight into how much a company is investing in its future products.
Finally, the growth rates of revenue and earnings per share are key metrics to consider with any company. That's true for consumer durables as well.
Investors should prioritize companies growing faster than their peers and operating in markets with strong secular growth rates, meaning long-term growth that persists across business cycles. You can use a stock screener to identify companies according to revenue and earnings-per-share metrics.
Related investing topics
Are consumer durables stocks right for you?
Consumer durables stocks offer a wide range of choices for investors seeking portfolio exposure to both the manufacturing and consumer-facing sectors. The cyclical nature of consumer durables also makes the sector a good investment choice during an economic boom, although bear markets can also offer good buying opportunities.
Considering the wide variety of consumer durables stocks available, with growth, value, and income stocks all on offer, almost any investor should be able to find a consumer durables stock that suits their investing style.
