You can review my previous eight selections here:
Waste Management
Intel
NextEra Energy
MasterCard
Chevron
Select Medical
Ford
American Water Works
Today, I plan to introduce the ninth of 10 selections to the Basic Needs Portfolio: The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)
How it fits with our theme
Since I’m developing an all-encompassing basic needs portfolio, you probably knew it was just a matter of time before I introduced the consumer-goods stock of all consumer-goods stocks — namely The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG).
Source: Au Kirk, Flickr.
The reason behind the selection is very simple — P&G’s products are often near-necessity goods and, as such, possess inelastic pricing and near-inelastic demand. Without sounding like a textbook, this just means that whether the economy is booming or in a recession, consumers aren’t very likely to change many of their buying habits. You need toothpaste regardless of how the economy is doing, and consumer-goods companies know that, which gives them little incentive to ever lower their price on toothpaste products. The same goes for a myriad of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)’s products, which range from detergents to personal-care and beauty products. Selling a wide variety of products and possessing strong pricing power is the perfect formula for inclusion into the Basic Needs Portfolio.
The risk
Unfortunately, no investment is a sure thing, and even a well-diversified consumer-products company like P&G comes with its own unique set of risks.
First and foremost, while recessions don’t necessitate that The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) lower its pricing on its consumer goods, since we know demand will stay relatively the same, that doesn’t stop cash-strapped consumers who are taking home less per paycheck from trading down to non-name-brand products to save money. This was actually the culprit for weaker earnings in recent quarters for both P&G and Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD), which were basically forced into a pricing war in the detergent aisle to attract consumers at the detriment of their gross margin.
Being a global company means having exposure to foreign currencies. Although most investors will look past minor fluctuations in underlying currencies, big changes in overseas currency can have a whopping positive or negative effect on profits. For Kimberly Clark Corp (NYSE:KMB), the company behind Kleenex tissues and Huggies diapers, it was forced to take a $36 million charge related solely to rapid devaluation of the Venezuelan bolivar in February when it reported its first-quarter results. Many global consumer-goods companies are facing similar currency translation pressures.
The final risk would be beefing up advertising only to see it have little to no effect on improving sales and brand-imaging. Former P&G CEO Robert McDonald, who served The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) as CEO for four years, led the costliest advertising budget in the world yet still failed to deliver big market-share gains in detergents and other key areas throughout much of his tenure. His predecessor, A.G. Lafley, has since come out of retirement to succeed McDonald, but skeptics remain as to whether P&G is back on the right track.
Why Procter & Gamble?
The first thing that attracts me to P&G is its ability to streamline its productivity and reduce costs. In February, The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) hit its goal of shedding 5,700 global jobs five months ahead of schedule and plans to reduce 2% to 4% of its nonmanufacturing jobs annually through 2016. That may sound like a company that’s in trouble, but it actually points to a consumer-products maker that’s getting more efficient in its production through investments in newer technologies, and is boosting margins through cost-cutting measures.
