Procter & Gamble's Stock Falls After Profit Miss, Outlook Cut

Procter & Gamble's stock slid 2.6% in premarket trade Tuesday, after the consumer products giant missed fiscal second-quarter profit expectations and lowered its growth outlook for the year. For the quarter ended Dec. 31, net earnings per share fell to 82 cents from $1.18, while core EPS, excluding non-recurring items, were $1.06. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting, on average, earnings of $1.13 a share. Sales fell 4% to $20.16 billion, including a 5% negative effect from currencies moves, compared with analyst forecasts of $20.6 billion. For the full fiscal year, P&G now expects core EPS to be in line or down in the low-single-digit percentage range, compared with a previous outlook of mid-single-digits. The stock, a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, has gained 4.2% over the past three months through Monday, while the Dow has advanced 5.1%.