Companies and Brands

Can Procter & Gamble Hit New Highs When It Reports Thursday Morning?

Chris Lange

Published: January 22, 2020 1:10 pm

Last Updated: January 30, 2020 10:51 am

Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) is set to report its fiscal second-quarter financial results after the closing bell on Wednesday. The consensus estimates are calling for $1.37 in earnings per share (EPS) and $18.37 billion in revenue. In the same period of last year, the consumer products giant said it had $1.25 in EPS and $17.44 billion in revenue.

Back in the fiscal first quarter, net sales were up 7% from the prior year. Unfavorable foreign exchange was a 2% hurt to sales for the quarter. Excluding the impacts of foreign exchange, acquisitions and divestitures, organic sales increased 7%, driven by a 4% increase in organic shipment volume.

The company reported its segments as follows:

• Beauty revenues increased 10% year over year to $3.55 billion.
• Grooming revenues increased by 1% to $1.53 billion.
• Health Care revenues increased 9% to $2.22 billion.
• Fabric & Home Care revenues increased 8% to $5.83 billion.
• Baby, Feminine & Family Care revenues increased 5% to $4.57 billion.

In this report, management said that it would continue executing its strategies of superiority, productivity and constructive disruption and improving the company’s organization and culture to deliver balanced top and bottom line growth, along with strong cash generation in a challenging competitive and macroeconomic environment.

Overall, Procter & Gamble stock has outperformed the broad markets with a gain of 38% in the past 52 weeks. However, over the past quarter, the shares are up just 7%.

Ahead of the report, a few analysts weighed in:

• Macquarie has an Outperform rating with a $138 price target.
• UBS Group has a Neutral rating and a $126 target price.
• Wells Fargo rates it as Outperform with a $136 target price.
• JPMorgan’s Overweight rating comes with a $139 price target.
• Morgan Stanley has an Overweight rating and a $134 price target.

Its shares were trading at $126.32 on Wednesday, in a 52-week range of $92.97 to $127.00. The consensus price target is $128.35.