Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over daily movements, we do like to keep an eye on market changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI +0.24%) has held onto this morning's solid gains, rising 85 points as of 11:25 a.m. EDT as many investors pointed to gains in Chinese manufacturing activity as a sign of broader strength in the global economy. Yet Procter & Gamble (PG 0.19%) shows signs of investor anxiety, falling slightly as investors wait for its quarterly earnings report tomorrow morning. Consumer-products rivals Kimberly-Clark (KMB +1.20%) and Colgate-Palmolive (CL +0.16%) have already reported their third-quarter results, and P&G will have to work hard to keep up with its smaller rivals in the space.
Procter & Gamble will release its results before the market opens tomorrow. It released its previous quarterly release at 7 a.m. EDT. P&G will also hold an early conference call, scheduled to start at 8:30 a.m. EDT.
Investors expect Procter & Gamble's earnings to fall slightly from year-ago levels, with relatively flat revenue reflecting continued softness in the consumer goods market. Adverse currency impacts have taken their toll on P&G's peers, with Kimberly-Clark reporting a $25 million impact to operating profit from a strong dollar and Colgate-Palmolive reporting a 4.5% negative revenue impact from foreign exchange. Yet unit volume growth and some positive pricing impacts pushed Colgate's overall revenue up 1.5%, and Kimberly-Clark boosted its organic sales by 5% despite seeing overall flat year-over-year revenue.
P&G's growth is most likely to come internationally, especially from emerging markets. Kimberly-Clark saw sales volumes rise 7% in its K-C International segment versus just 2% domestically. Similarly, Colgate-Palmolive grew Latin America unit volume by 5.5% and Asia unit volume by 11%, although currency impacts played a huge role in reducing overall revenue there. With both Colgate and Kimberly-Clark pushing hard to find growth in emerging markets, Procter & Gamble needs to post strong results there to keep pace.
Watch the valuation
One last thing for investors to keep in mind is that Procter & Gamble's current earnings multiple is relatively high. That's not a typical situation for P&G, but it suggests the company needs to produce impressive results to keep investors happy. Otherwise, a drop in Procter & Gamble's stock could send the entire Dow reeling tomorrow.
