Sunday, October 27, 2013

P&G Rises On Q2 Beat; Lafley Promises Focus, Cost Cutting

Procter & Gamble (PG) was rising more than 1% this morning on a better-than-expected second quarter.

The company said it earned $1.88 billion, or 79 cents a share, down from $3.63 billion a year earlier. Revenue rose 2.2% to $20.66 billion.

Analysts were looking for earnings of 77 cents per share on revenue of $20.54 billion.

The company's full-year guidance came in light, however. P&G said it will see earnings per share grow 5% to 7%, to a range of $4.25 a share to $4.33 a share, while the consensus estimate is $4.32.

In the quarter, organic sales climbed rose 4%; the company said it expects sales to grow between 1% and 2% for the full year, while organic sales rise 3% to 4%.

Gross margin narrowed to 47.5% from 48.1%.

CEO A.G. Lafley also spoke publicly for the first time since retaking the corner office, saying he would redouble efforts to win more market share and cut costs.

S&P Capital IQ's Ian Gordon reiterated a Hold rating on the stock, but sounded an upbeat note, boosting his target price by $2 to $85 and writing "We see a focus on productivity enabling PG to drive EPS growth more in line with peers in FY 15 and beyond."

P&G is up more than 26% for the year, slightly outpacing the broader market.

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