(Boursier.com) — Procter & Gamble climbs before the stock market on Wall Street, while the American consumer goods giant has just raised its annual sales estimates, with the rise in prices. The group also exceeded earnings forecasts for the quarter ended with repeated price increases. Growth in the third fiscal quarter reached 4% in consolidated data and 7% organically, with revenues of 20.1 billion dollars. Diluted net earnings per share were $1.37, an increase of 3% compared to last year. The consensus was $1.32. Quarterly operating cash flow reached $3.9 billion. Net profit was 3.4 billion. The maker of Pantene shampoos and Tide detergents reported a 3% decline in overall volumes in the third quarter, but average prices for its product categories rose 10% at the same time, supporting business and margins .
P&G has raised its fiscal 2023 sales forecast, expecting growth of around 1% from the previous year, whereas the group previously envisaged stability or a decline of up to 1%. The company also raised its organic sales growth outlook to around 6% year-on-year from an earlier range of 4-5%. The exchange rate is expected to be a five percentage point headwind to overall growth. P&G maintained its outlook for full-year 2023 diluted net earnings per share growth in the 0-4% range. P&G expects EPS to be at the lower end of this fiscal year guidance range. Finally, the multinational raised the upper limit of its share buyback target for fiscal year 2023, with a range now housed between $7.4 billion and $8 billion in common stock. P&G also expects to pay about $9 billion in dividends.
Products made by companies such as P&G are typically among the last to see weak demand during economic downturns, unlike discretionary items such as appliances and furniture. These companies repeatedly raised prices to pass on high input costs that stemmed from supply chain problems and were made worse by the 2022 Ukraine crisis. P&G’s third-quarter gross margin increased 150 basis points from a year ago. The group now expects an annual impact of around $3.5 billion from rising commodity and freight costs.
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