What to Expect From Earnings in P&G and Clorox

24/7 Wall St. wanted to offer up brief earnings previews. Estimates on earnings and consensus price targets from Wall Street analysts were taken from Thomson Reuters. We have also added in color on each. The consumer products sector is supposed to be defensive by nature, so you have to scratch your head when the stocks have pulled back handily as we have seen. Maybe you should also wonder why they are trading at 17 to 19 times next year’s expected earnings.

Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) has had a rough time of late, and the woes of Europe and Russia may be a very large part of those woes. It turns out that the woes of Europe and Russia are not helping matters for P&G. After all,  its stock has fallen from almost $86 and is now back under $78 again ahead of earnings.

Thomson Reuters is calling for earnings of $0.91 per share on revenues of $20.5 billion. The consensus analyst price target is all the way up above $87 as of now. Keep in mind that this company trades at 17.2 times the fiscal year-end in June of 2015 for an earnings multiple. That is based upon 7.6% earnings per share growth on only 2.6% revenue growth.

Clorox Co. (NYSE: CLX) is also close to $10 under its peak, but its pre-earnings price of $87.50 compared to a 52-week range of $80.20 to $96.76. Clorox trades at 9.5 times its expected fiscal year-end June 2015 earnings per share estimates.

Thomson Reuters is calling for earnings of $1.35 per share on revenues of $1.52 billion. The consensus analyst price target is $87.00, so Clorox is trading above that target. Keep in mind that the earnings per share growth for the next fiscal year (June 2015) is expected to be only 3.4% and the revenue growth is expected to be only 0.4%.

There are a few items to consider in the dividends and size here. P&G and Clorox both yield approximately 3.2%. Where the companies are grossly different is in the size – P&G is worth $210 billion in market cap versus only $11.25 billion for Clorox.

Consumer products are supposed to be defensive stocks. Still,  problems around the globe have interrupted their purely defensive position for earnings and sales. They are also still richly valued compared to other sector leaders, plus there is the notion of little to no organic growth.

We will be paying close attention here to the promotional costs, plus the impact from foreign currencies. Stay tuned.