Consumers ‘more careful’ with purchased products

P&G’s (PG) earnings on Friday surprised a few on Wall Street looking for softness at the hands of a slowing economy and sticky inflation.

The better-than-expected results didn’t surprise P&G’s top C-suite exec, however.

“No,” P&G chairman and CEO Jon Moeller told Yahoo Finance when asked if the resilience of the Tide maker’s quarter came as a shock.

P&G saw organic sales growth across all lines of business, in part fueled by price increases. But the volume of products sold generally held steady across the board, save for a 5% drop in the fabric care and home business.

Asked if he is seeing any signs of a potential recession, Moeller answered: “We are not.”

“We’re seeing if anything, more careful usage of the product that they have bought,” he added. “So they might use a half a sheet of Bounty paper towel as opposed to a whole sheet.”

P&G shares popped 2% in premarket trading.

The Earnings Rundown

• Net Sales: +4% year over year to $20.1 billion vs. $19.33 billion estimate

• Organic Revenue Growth: +7% year over year vs. +5.1% estimate

• Diluted EPS: +3% year over year to $1.37 vs. $1.32 estimate

• Fiscal Year Outlook

What Else Caught Our Attention

• 21% year-over-year increase in the fabric care and home business segment’s operating profits, the fastest growth out of all P&G’s businesses.

• 4% year-over-year decline in the beauty business segment’s operating profits, the worst growth out of all P&G’s businesses.

• 48.2% gross profit margin, up from 46.7% a year ago.

• $2.2 billion commodities inflation hit for P&G’s current fiscal year.

• $7.4 billion in stock repurchases for the nine months ended March 31.

From the C-Suite

“So we’re not seeing a lot of trade down [among consumers]. We’re seeing if anything, more careful usage of the product that they have bought. So they might use a half a sheet of Bounty paper towel as opposed to a whole sheet. But generally again, just looking at the numbers, the consumer is holding up extremely well.” — P&G chairman and CEO Jon Moeller

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Brian Sozzi is Yahoo Finance’s Executive Editor. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn. Tips on deals, mergers, activist situations or anything else? Email [email protected]

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