Dividend powerhouse Procter & Gamble (PG +0.22%) owns some of the world's most valuable consumer brands, including Tide detergent, Crest toothpaste, Pampers diapers, and Bounty paper towels. But over the last year, its stock has badly lagged the S&P 500.
NYSE: PG
Key Data Points
How high has P&G's stock ever gotten? And can it get there again?
The top of the mountain
P&G stock hit its all-time closing high of $179.90/share on Dec. 2, 2024. But 2025 hasn't been kind to the consumer staples behemoth. The stock is currently down more than 13% from its all-time high.
P&G shares beat the market from December 2018 to November 2023. P&G returned 83.4% to the S&P 500's 81.4%.
Image source: Getty Images.
Then, in December 2023, the S&P 500 rose sharply, while P&G's stock declined. Even though P&G stock recovered the very next month, keeping pace with the S&P 500 for the next nine months, that one-month blip was enough to derail the company's historical performance. A year later, on the day it hit its all-time high, its five-year total return of 65.7% badly trailed the S&P 500's 110.3% total return.
What it tells us
This is a good reminder to look at multiple timeframes when researching a stock's historical performance. I recommend comparing at least the one-, five-, and 10-year returns of a stock to the S&P 500 (and be sure to use total returns -- which factor in reinvestment of dividends -- when looking at dividend payers like P&G).
Today, P&G's fundamentals look sound. Revenue is at all-time highs of $84.3 billion, and net income is up sharply at $16.1 billion over the same timeframe. The company plans to cut 7,000 jobs and shed a number of underperforming brands, focusing instead on its major moneymakers. But sales of P&G's higher-priced brands may take a hit in the event of a recession, which is probably what's weighing down the stock.
