Someday, Procter & Gamble
Reported sales rose 27% for the second quarter, with the acquisition of Gillette obviously making a big impact on the reported numbers. On an organic basis (that is, stripping out Gillette), P&G sales grew 8% on top of a 6% rise in organic sales volumes. Though higher commodity costs were a challenge, P&G nevertheless delivered on profitability, too, and reported net earnings rose 29% from the year-ago quarter to beat estimates.
There are far too many moving parts to P&G to really do justice to it in this format, so I'd strongly encourage interested Fools to read the release for themselves to get all of the details. What I'll say here, though, is that all of the business units had positive organic volume growth, and for all but the Snacks and Coffee business (which was hurt by Hurricane Katrina), that growth was in the mid-single digits or higher.
For all the differences between P&G and other consumer goods companies like Altria
I don't dislike this stock at all, but I'm not an owner and not likely to be one soon. For all of my love of value investing, I still generally prefer the small and the unknown -- buying stocks like P&G when there's a scandal or scare and people mark down the stock sharply. Whenever it happens with P&G, I'll be waiting.
For more good Takes on consumer goods:
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Fool contributor Stephen Simpson has no financial interest in any stocks mentioned (that means he's neither long nor short the shares).