Shares of consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble (P&G) slipped during Friday morning trading, after price hikes on certain products kept the company from reaching revenue expectations in its fiscal third quarter. Procter & Gamble stock fell about 1% following the company’s most recent quarterly earnings report.
The company hiked prices by an average of 3% in the third quarter, resulting in mixed results for different product categories.
P&G’s biggest earner — baby, feminine and family care products — was the only product segment to see declines in both net sales and volume. The segment, which includes Pampers and Bounty paper towels, generated $4.9 billion in net sales for the company, down 2% from last year. The company attributed this drop “primarily to pricing-related volume declines,” which were down 3%.
By contrast, P&G’s grooming products, which includes Gillette razors, had the biggest average price increase at 10%. Those price increases helped net sales in the segment grow 3% year-over-year, to $1.5 billion.
“We delivered solid sales and strong earnings growth in the third quarter despite multiple headwinds, enabling us to raise our EPS growth guidance and maintain our top-line outlook for the fiscal year,” P&G CEO Jon Moeller said in a statement.
The company expects its fiscal 2024 all-in sales growth to come between 2% to 4% compared with the prior year. And it raised the outlook for its diluted net earnings per share growth from a range of -1% to flat, to an increase of 1% to 2% percent.
Procter & Gamble’s fiscal third quarter, by the number
Procter & Gamble’s net income rose more than 10% in in the three months ending March 31, to $3.8 billion from $3.4 billion in the same period last year.
The company’s net sales stayed relatively flat, only growing 1% year-over-year to $20.2 billion in its third quarter, from $20 billion, and slightly below Wall Street expectations of $20.4 billion.
Its earnings per share came to $1.52, beating analysts’ estimates of $1.42 according to FactSet.