P&G CEO on Q3 earnings: ‘very pleased with where we stand’

Procter & Gamble Co (NYSE: PG) is in the green this morning after reporting market-beating results for its third financial quarter.

P&G’s guidance for the future

Shareholders are cheering also because the consumer goods company raised its outlook.

For the full year, it’s now calling for a 1.0% increase in sales versus flat to down 1.0% it had guided for earlier. On CNBC’s “Squawk Box”, CEO Jon Moeller said:

Organic sales growth was over 7.0%. We grew organic sales in every category that gives us confidence to raise our guidance for the fiscal year to about 6.0%.

Year-to-date, P&G stock is up over 3.0% at writing.

P&G took a hit on volumes

P&G agreed that shipment volumes were down 3.0% in its recent quarter but said a 10% increase in prices helped offset that weakness, as per the press release. CEO Moeller added:

On the volume side, we’re making sequential progress. Last quarter, volume was minus six, this quarter it’s minus three, and would be minus 2 including some portfolio adjustments.

The Cincinnati-headquartered firm now expects to spend about $9.0 billion in dividends this year and up to $8.0 billion on stock buybacks.

Wall Street currently rates P&G stock at “overweight”.

P&G Q3 financial highlights

• Earned $3.4 billion versus the year-ago $3.36 billion
• Per-share earnings also climbed from $1.33 to $1.37
• Sales jumped 4.0% year-over-year to $20.07 billion
• Consensus was $1.32 a share on $19.28 billion revenue

P&G stock pays a dividend yield of 2.4%. According to the Chief Executive:

We’ll grow modestly this year with a very strong top line. We’re seeing some trade down but very little. Our brands are holding or building share. So, I’m very pleased overall with where we stand.