Too bad the blip's not bigger. Today, Procter & Gamble
After declaring an increased dividend for the 50th consecutive year, it "confirmed" guidance for the January to March quarter, narrowing it to $0.59 to $0.61 per share. It also said sales growth would come in at the middle of the 20% to 23% range given earlier.
So why the Street's long face? Well, it's that whole next quarter thing. For Q3, P&G says growth will come in at the 5% to 6% instead of the 5% to 7% predicted.
Yeah, that doesn't seem like a big deal to me, either. Certainly not worth a 2% haircut, unless.
Well, unless the stock's trading at a premium price already, and I think that's a tough case to make. On an old-school multiple level, P&G trades at the low end of its usual P/E range, and by my cash valuation, the current price looks about fair.
Normally, "fair" doesn't count as "buy" for me, but with consumer-products bigwigs like this one, Motley Fool Inside Value pick Colgate-Palmolive
That's because these firms make the kinds of recognized products that people tend to keep buying in good times and bad. They churn out a healthy cash flow, and unless they get really out of whack, they nearly always look OK for a long-term holder. If you're like me, you might want to wait for a better price, but sometimes these sales don't last.
If you like to pad your portfolio with cash kings like Procter & Gamble, Kraft, and Unilever, we've got a guy who's on the same page. Every month, Mathew Emmert scans the market for cash-first companies in Motley Fool Income Investor . A free trial is available.
Seth Jayson loves seeing those dividend checks roll in. At the time of publication, he had no positions in any company mentioned here. View his stock holdings and Fool profile here. Kraft and Unilever are Income Investor recommendations. Colgate Palmolive is an Inside Value recommendation. Fool rules are here.
