The strong dollar once again hammered Procter & Gamble's quarterly sales. Baby care and grooming goods were particularly weak.
Two-third's of P&G's business is outside North America, so a stronger dollar makes their products more expensive. Sales in China, its second largest market, tumbled. But the consumer products giant's profit jumped sharply higher.
P&G has been cutting costs. And it is raising prices to widen its profit margins, even if it sells fewer units. Investors drove its shares higher. P&G has been trying to turn itself around, shrinking the number of brands to focus on the most profitable product lines, such as Gillette shaving products, Pampers diapers and Tide detergent.
It still faces challenges: the dollar forced the company to cut its full-year revenue forecasts. And Sanford Bernstein's Ali Dibadj says P&G is still moving too slowly and is missing out on opportunities.
Ali Dibadji, analyst, Sanford Bernstein, says: "They don't have many natural and organic products. They don't have anything that really focuses on what the consumer wants. And that's a decision making change that they have to come through, and that's a little bit more difficult, because that is a cultural change."
Still, Dibadj rates the stock outperform. He believes P&G will ultimately succeed in its turnaround attempt, or it could break itself into pieces to boost the value of its stock.
