Hurricane Katrina has been the source of immeasurable human suffering. It has also wrought immense economic damage. Some companies, however, remain resilient even in the face of the storm's impact.
Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) is one of these. Yesterday, the company dispatched a missive to the investment community supporting previous earnings guidance for the upcoming quarter. P&G confirmed that commodity pressures will be present and that its coffee business was stymied. Nevertheless, the company believes sales growth should still come in between 6% and 8%, and it's still on target to earn $0.75 to $0.76 per share.
You can thank the beauty-and-health segment and strong international performance for those steady results. While it expects to lose a penny or two in the quarter due to Katrina, P&G believes it will meet its yearly earnings expectations through cost controls and continued sales growth.
You can see why P&G makes for a great investment. By pursuing global opportunities, a disaster in one marketplace can be mitigated by growth in another marketplace. Geographical diversification is the cornerstone of many consumer companies, such as McDonald's (NYSE:MCD) and Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM). This obviously exposes a company to currency risks at times (depending on any hedging that may be going on), but in the end, having a global system in place makes for a solid a long-term bet.
Disasters like this often present buying opportunities. It's a hedge-fund-trading world out there, and whenever the traders drive down quality consumer stocks such as P&G, Clorox (NYSE:CLX), and Motley Fool Inside Value pick Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) in response to such woes, you may want to consider adding to your own position. Remember: The trader has a different agenda from the long-term investor. Short-term selling by traders can create long-term buying opportunities for investors.
Looking at this one-month chart, I can't say that you've got a huge buying opportunity for P&G. Again, this shows how cool the stock is. It really is one I'd love to own. At some point, lingering lofty fuel prices may cause havoc on the company's bottom line. If it does, you should consider buying on the dips. But for now, everything is as clean as a freshly laundered dress shirt over at this Dow component.
For more well-diversified Foolishness on Procter & Gamble, click here:
- Gillette's Closer Shave
- P&G's Pretty Picture
- P&G's Ad Gamble
- Let us know what you think at the Procter & Gamble discussion board.
Colgate-Palmolive is a Motley Fool Inside Value pick. For more invaluable insight on value investing, click here for a 30-day free trial of the Inside Value newsletter service.
Fool contributor Steven Mallas holds no financial position in any of the companies mentioned. The Fool has an ironclad disclosure policy.
