We recently published a list of Why These 15 Consumer Defensive Stocks Are Surging in 2025. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Stride Inc (NYSE:LRN) stands against other consumer defensive stocks that are surging in 2025.

The stock market has taken a sharp turn after two years of blockbuster gains, and many investors have felt uneasy. These investors are now turning to consumer defensive stocks due to growth stocks sputtering amid a new wave of tariffs rattling global trade.

Consumer defensive stocks provide essential goods and services that people rely on regardless of economic conditions and are more insulated during market downturns. Investors have piled into consumer defensive stocks for that reason, and it’s a good idea to look into the biggest winners in this sector.

Even during bear markets, there are pockets of the market that perform exceptionally well. For example, I identified Why These 15 Healthcare Stocks Are Surging in 2025 in another article.

Methodology

For this article, I screened the best-performing consumer defensive stocks year-to-date.

I will also mention the number of hedge fund investors in these stocks. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).Why Stride Inc (LRN) is Surging in 2025

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Stride Inc (NYSE:LRN)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q4 2024: 33

Stride Inc (NYSE:LRN) is a leading education technology company providing personalized learning programs and digital education services to students of all ages across the United States.

The stock is up significantly so far in 2025 as investors are attracted to its strong growth potential and immunity from tariff impacts. This performance continues a long-term trend of a 500%-plus rally in the past five years.

The most significant catalyst for Stride’s recent stock appreciation was the announcement of a strategic partnership with a major tech industry player.

The company’s exceptional Q2 fiscal 2025 results further fueled the rally, with revenue of $587.2 million (16% increase year-over-year) and net income of $96.4 million (44% increase). Stride raised its fiscal year 2025 revenue forecast to $2.32-$2.36 billion.

The consensus price target of $123.5 implies 12.57% downside.

Story Continues

LRN stock is up 35.53% year-to-date.

Overall, LRN ranks 10th on our list of consumer defensive stocks that are surging in 2025. While we acknowledge the potential of LRN, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than LRN but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.

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