Shares of Procter & Gamble Co. PG, +1.18% rose 2.1% in premarket trading Wednesday, after the consumer packaged goods company reported fiscal first-quarter profit and sales that rose above expectations, as higher pricing provided a boost, but lowered its full-year sales outlook. Net income fell to $3.94 billion, or $1.57 a share, from $4.11 billion, or $1.61 a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, core earnings per share of $1.57 topped the FactSet consensus of $1.55. Sales grew 1.3% to $20.61 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $20.33 billion. Sales rose even as volume declined 3%, and as foreign currency translation reduced sales growth by 6%, because pricing increased 9% and mix was up 1%. Gross margin contracted to 47.4% from 49.0%. For fiscal 2023, P&G now expects sales to fall 3% to 1%, compared with previous guidance of in line to up 2%. The current FactSet consensus of $79.68 billion implies a 0.6% decline. P&G affirmed its EPS growth outlook of in-line to up 4%, but said it expects results to be at the low end of that guidance range. The stock has lost 10.9% over the past three months through Tuesday, while the SPDR Consumer Staples Select Sector XLP, -0.51% slipped 5.3% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.44% has eased 4.1%.
