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Tuesday, September 29, 2009
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Money Manager: Procter & Gamble 'Nice Total Return Story'
By Darryl R. Isherwood
FOXBusiness
Investors looking at a slow “U”-shaped recovery would do well to look at Procter & Gamble (PG), which one money manager said is poised to increase sales as the economy begins to rebound.
While not a “home run” story, Chris Trompeter of Tradition Capital Management, said the company should show strong gains in the coming month.
“I think the company saw a falloff off in sales and said ‘this may continue for awhile, we need to think about our strategy,’ so they decided they were going to cut prices so there is not as big of a spread between their high end products compared to what some of the mid tier or generic brands are charging,” Trompeter said.
That strategy will eventually work well enough to show single digit revenue growth, he said. Procter & Gamble pays a 3% dividend, making it a “nice total return type story.” Trompeter said the stock, trading Tuesday at about $57, is worth $10 per share more.
“We think the stock should be trading in the mid to high $60s” he said. “They have a great balance sheet and generate attractive returns on equity."
Procter and Gamble is an attractive play as well Trompeter said, given its history of generating free cash.
“That’s a metric we look at because that cash can be used to pay dividends, or acquisitions or a stock buyback,” he said.
"If you think the economy is going to continue to grow at a V shaped recovery, Procter would not be the ideal,” Trompeter said. “But if you share our view that the consumer is going to continue to struggle with job issues, unemployment, weak income and high debt loads this is a good story.”
Procter & Gamble produces some of the world’s most well-known brands of household items, including Tide, Febreze, Old Spice, Cascade, Ivory and Pampers. In 2008, the company’s net sales topped $83 billion with net earnings of over $12 billion.






