Procter & Gamble Co. Sales Fall, 'tightens' Outlook

Procter & Gamble Co. shares are down 0.4% in premarket trading Tuesday, after the company announced third-quarter earnings that beat estimates, but offered a fourth-quarter outlook that will be "significantly lower" than last year. The consumer goods company had net income of $2.75 billion, or 97 cents per share, up from $2.15 billion, or 75 cents per share, for the same period last year. The FactSet consensus was 82 cents per share. Sales for the quarter totaled $15.76 billion, down from $16.93 billion last year, and just missing the FactSet consensus of $15.81 billion. The company said sales were negatively affected by foreign exchange, a 2% impact from Venezuela deconsolidation, and a 1% impact from minor brand divestitures. P&G sold its Duracell business during the quarter. The company expects total sales to be down high-single digits in fiscal 2016, and "tightened" its earnings expectations, forecasting a per-share decline between 3% and 6% versus $3.76 last year owing to advertising investments, a higher tax rate, headwinds from foreign exchange and lower non-operating income. P&G plans to repurchase and exchange shares worth $8 billion for the year. Shares are up 0.5% for the past year while the S&P 500 is down 1.4% for the same period.