Here are top-rated defensive stocks as market rally sputters

Industries that typically hold up well during times of stock-market volatility – such as healthcare, consumer staples and utilities – may be worth another look as the rally sputters.

U.S. stocks on Friday posted their worst day of the year as soft economic data led investors to re-price the market for risks. The Standard & Poor’s 500 (SP500) stock index fell 1.7% for its biggest single-day drop since mid-December.

Stagflation – a term to describe high inflation amid meager economic growth – is especially worrisome as a University of Michigan survey last week showed that consumers expect prices to rise faster than they did before, while the S&P Global U.S. services purchasing managers’ index fell to a 25-month low to indicate a slowdown in business activity.

Seeking Alpha offers a variety of screening tools to help identify stocks with the strongest collective value, growth, profitability, EPS revisions and price momentum compared with peers. The following are the top five Quant Rated stocks in healthcare, consumer staples and utilities. (Each industry heading is linked to the respective stock screener.)