This post is part of our Battle of the Brands feature. Let us know which brand you prefer, and check out other Battle of the Brands posts.
In the world of diapers, try as other brands might to gain a foothold, it is really a Pampers vs. Huggies world.
Pampers, made by Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) has been the market share winner for decades and is P&G's top global brand. But Huggies, made by Kimberly-Clark (NYSE: KMB) has made significant inroads thanks to frequent discounts.
Consumer Reports estimates parents will spend between $1,500 and $2,000 on disposable diapers before their child is potty trained. With that kind of investment, many parents have strong views about which brand is best. Leakage control and rash prevention are the main criteria. Consumer reports rates Pampers (both its Cruisers and Baby Dry brands) higher than Huggies, mainly due to Pampers' superior leakage prevention.
Baby blogs also seem to favor Pampers over Huggies. And in my experience, I do think of Pampers as the "premium" and was surprised that when I actually checked price tags in my local drug store this week, found that they were priced exactly the same.
For my diaper dollar, I don't see much of a difference between the two. I'm all for changing the baby more often and buying a cheaper diaper. If you really put the diapers to the test with, say an eight-hour day at the playground without a change, you might find a difference. But my priority is to spend as little time and money diaper shopping as possible. Costco stocks Huggies in bulk, so that's what we have now.
This post is part of our Battle of the Brands feature. Let us know which brand you prefer, and check out other Battle of the Brands posts.
When it comes to multi-bladed disposable razors, how many blades is enough? In the long-standing rivalry between the two biggest brands of disposable razors, the current answer seems to be five. For now.
The Gillette company, which in 2005 became part of Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), invented the safety razor in 1895, as well as the first razor marketed to women in 1916. They started the current arms race in multi-bladed disposable razors by introducing a twin-blade razor in 1971, and then the triple-bladed Mach 3 in 1998. Schick responded with the four-blade Quattro in 2003, then in 2005, Gillette introduced the five-blade Fusion. Of course, each of these models includes a version for women, and versions with various bells and whistles.
St. Louis-based Energizer Holdings (NYSE: ENR), a U.S. manufacturer of batteries, purchased the Schick brand of razors from Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) in 2003. Outside the North America and Australia, the same products are sold under the Wilkinson Sword brand. Either way, Schick remains a distant second to Gillette in global sales, though some analysts saw patent infringement lawsuits filed against Schick by Gillette as evidence that Gillette recognized a potential threat. Combined, these two brands account for nearly all razor sales in America.
This post is part of our Battle of the Brands feature. Let us know which brand you prefer, and check out other Battle of the Brands posts.
Behold the humble potato chip, snack food of the ages. Claimed to have been invented in 1853 in the road house kitchen of Native American George Crum, the potato chip traveled through American snack history in a class of it's own. That is, until in the early 1960s, when it was discovered that you could grind potatoes into a slurry and then press them back into a consumable form.
I sat down one day with a bag of potato chips from Lay's and with a can of Pringles. Lay's are made by Frito-Lay, a property of PepsiCo Inc. ( NYSE: PEP). Pringles are made by Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG). I wanted to compare the two in order to assess their similarities and differences. What I found were two very different snacking sensations although both are derived from the same source. The Lay's ingredient list is simple. They're made with potatoes, oil, and salt, with no preservatives added. The Pringles ingredient list begins with the same potatoes, oil, and salt, but the product also contains at least traces of wheat starch and rice flour in addition to a couple common food chemicals.
"Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) is no longer relegated to a tiny corner of the investment landscape; indeed, according to the Social Investment Forum, SRI now accounts for $2.7 trillion, up more than 18% since 2005," says Chuck Carlson.
Here, the editor of The DRIP Investor offers five stock that both rank high for their social responsibility and also stand out based on more traditional earnings and valuation analysis.
"The Social Investment Forum estimates that more than one in every 10 dollars under professional management in the U.S. is involved in SRI investing. What is driving the growth in SRI?
"One factor is the increasing numbers of women and younger investors among the investor populace have fueled demand for SRI investments.
"In addition, we see an increased focus on environment, social, and corporate governance issues. Further, widely publicized stories concerning global warming as well as various corporate governance issues, have caused many investors to reconsider how they deploy their investment capital.
This post is part of our Battle of the Brands feature. Let us know which brand you prefer, and check out other Battle of the Brands posts.
As far as toothpaste goes, I was raised on Crest. My entire childhood, it was always Crest. Except when I spent the night at Grandma's and Grandpa's. They had Colgate. What a treat! Here are some facts about both...
Colgate toothpaste is the flagship product of Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL), an international operation in more than 200 countries. Total sales were almost $13.8 billion in 2007, the highest ever for the company, and it's notable that 75% of the sales were made outside the United States. Net income was up 28% to $1.7 billion for the year. Toothpaste is one of many personal care products that the company makes, including toothbrushes, soaps, and deodorants. The oral care products accounted for 40% of Colgate's sales in 2007.
This post is part of our Battle of the Brands feature. Let us know which brand you prefer, and check out other Battle of the Brands posts.
Drinkers of fine coffee may turn their noses up at Folgers or Maxwell House, but these two brands have been household names for decades. And they're not the just offering plain, old coffee for the commoners anymore. They've both added a variety of coffees to their product mixes in an effort to lure more upscale (picky? elitist?) coffee drinkers to their brands.
Folgers, one of the Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) family of products, has added roasts such as Black Silk, French Roast, Gourmet Supreme, and House Blend. They've also got a line of flavored coffees that include Crème Brulee, Vanilla Biscotti, and Caramel Drizzle. You will also find instant cappuccino in French Vanilla and Mocha Chocolate flavors, and the trusty old plain instant coffee is still available. I've had it, and it's not all that bad when you're in a pinch!
Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL) reported Q1 results on Wednesday. By now, you know the drill when it comes to consumer-products companies -- weak-dollar-helped-and-commodity-costs-did-not-help. I gotta say, though, that Colgate-Palmolive showed that vigilance in terms of costs can have a positive impact, and that a business does not have to be defined by inflation.
Net sales exploded to the upside by more than 15% (again, currency effects). Net income likewise charged higher, rising 17% to 90 cents per share on an adjusted basis. I know -- superlatives such as "exploded" and "charged higher" might seem a bit hyper here, but it's always cool when a consumer-products company hits those double-digit increases. Colgate-Palmolive, like Clorox (NYSE: CLX) and Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), leverages its stable of brands to drive growth in cash flows (Procter & Gamble, by the way, also recently reported quarterly results). This worked like a charm, since cash flow from operations during the past three-month period increased 17%. Way to go, management. Margins, however, were pressured, as can be expected, and they will continue to be pressured in the near future.
The earnings release mentioned the flagship Colgate toothpaste product -- I am a user of the brand, and in fact, I bought a new variety earlier this week. I've said it before and I'll say it again -- the supermarket is full of investing ideas, and Colgate-Palmolive is one of them. The company had a great quarter, it beat expectations according to Briefing.com -- albeit by the usual suspect, namely the "proverbial penny" -- and it seems solid enough. A potential core holding, Colgate-Palmolive should do well over the coming year. Yesterday's 6.7% drop in the price of the shares could have been seen as a buying opportunity for patient, long-term investors, but I'll concede that the stock could languish for a little while.
Disclosure: I don't own shares in any of the companies mentioned; positions can change at any time.
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says they have successfully increased price, and their stocks have room to run.
It's tough not to be a Pollyanna after talking to Bill Johnson, the CEO of Heinz (NYSE: HNZ) (Cramer's Take), and after reading the Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) (Cramer's Take) quarterly transcript. Both of these companies have had to deal with hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars of raw cost increases, and both have not only come through with flying colors but are more profitable than I bet even they thought they could be.
PG is amazing. Almost every business was up much more than people thought possible, with divisions like razors and hair care (shampoo) so strong that you would think that suddenly a large part of the populace has decided to start shaving and shampooing for the first time.
Innovations, like the Fusion blade, have produced remarkable returns in a short time, as Fusion is yet another billion-dollar brand that didn't exist a couple of years ago.
Avon (NYSE: AVP) delivered not a bag of cosmetics to Wall Street, but a batch of growing earnings. Total revenues for the first quarter were up beautifully, rising 14% to $2.5 billion. Earnings per diluted share likewise did the double-digit-increase dance, rocketing 26% to $0.43.
Now, I would have liked the report a lot more if the company had indicated in its cash flow statement that everything was positive -- unfortunately, that was not to be, as operational cash flow was, in fact, negative. Avon needed to use $41 million for its operating activities during the quarter. Well, one thing I can say is that it's a lot less than the cash needed to fund last year's operations -- Avon burned through over $160 million in the comparable period. A check of the latest 10K shows that, while operational cash flow has been decreasing over the last few years, it has remained positive, so since this is the first quarter of the new fiscal year, we can wait to see how cash flow shapes up as the quarters go by.
Avon competes with companies like Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), Revlon (NYSE: REV) and Estee Lauder (NYSE: EL). As I've stated in the past, Procter & Gamble is more my kind of consumer-products business, but I'll give Avon its due since it does have a good product portfolio backing its brand and a devoted base of users. The stock is not too far off from its 52-week high as of this writing, and so long as it can keep sales growing and fight inflationary pressures, it should be a decent long-term bet.
Disclosure: I don't own shares in any of the companies mentioned; positions can change at any time.
Recovery? Not These Stocks Not all stocks in battered sectors will bounce back in a second-half economic upturn. Here are some that could be left behind. Recovery? Not for These Stocks - BusinessWeek
Egypt's Bread Lines Highlight Dangers of Food Crisis Well before 8 o'clock on a late April morning, a line of about 30 eager customers forms at a modest bakery in this working-class neighborhood. With a global food crisis roiling countries from Asia to the edge of Europe, at least 11 people have been killed recently in such lines here, struggling to get their daily bread. Tension in Egypt shows potency of food crisis - USATODAY.com
Profit rose to $2.71 billion, or 82 cents per share, compared with $2.51 billion, or 74 cents per share, a year ago. Revenue rose 9% to $20.46 billion from $18.69 billion last year. The Cincinnati-based company was expected to earn 81 cents on revenue of $21.44 billion, according to Thomson Financial.
"P&G delivered strong results in-line with long-term targets in a challenging economic and competitive environment with broad-based sales and share growth, earnings growth and overhead cost improvement," said Chief Executive AG Lafley in the earnings release.
Shares of the maker of Tide (my favorite detergent) and Pampers (our family's preferred diaper for my son) have slumped more than 10% this year under-performing rivals including Church & Dwight Co. (NYSE: CHD) and Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL). Uniliver Plc. (NYSE: UL) has fared slightly worse than P&G.
Stocks futures were lower early Wednesday morning as investors awaited not only a rate decision from the Federal Reserve this afternoon but several key economic indicators and lots of corporate earnings too.
U.S. stock markets ended mostly lower on Tuesday. While the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 39 points, or 0.31%, the S&P 500 ended 5 points lower, or 0.39%. Only the heavily tech weighted Nasdaq Composite rose 1.7 points, or 0.07% due to a lift from upbeat earnings from Corning.
Today, investors will focus their attention on different items throughout the day as they await the Fed decision coming at 2:15 p.m. EDT when the Fed releases its policy statement. Most expect the Federal Reserve to cut key rates by a quarter point to 2%, but to hint at a pause in the cuts.
Before the bell, Wall Street will also look at earnings from heavyweights such as General Motors, Procter & Gamble and Time Warner. PG and TWX already reported results.
Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) reported that first-quarter profit rose 8% o $2.71 billion, or 82 cents per share as cost control and price increases helped offset higher commodity costs. Revenue rose 9% to $20.46 billion. Analysts predicted profit of 81 cents per share on revenue of $20.43 billion.
Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX)'s first-quarter profits fell 36% following an asset sale a year ago, and the company also said it will spin off the rest of its cable business. Excluding one-time effects, per-share results were 22 cents per share, a penny below analyst estimates and in line with a year ago. Revenues rose 2% to $11.42 billion from $11.18 billion.
Kimberly-Clark (NYSE: KMB) reported for the first quarter today. Net sales increased almost 10% to $4.8 billion. Adjusted earnings per share increased 5% to $1.08. That's a rather small jump, granted, but you know something, it was enough to keep the stock in the green (at the time of this writing, at least) instead of in the red on a day when the major market averages -- and just about all of the stocks in my personal portfolios -- are bathing in the evil crimson color of doom. And according to Briefing.com, Kimberly-Clark played the beat-the-expectations game and won by the proverbial penny! Shareholders should be pleased.
A non-pleasing item to be found in the release centers on cash from operations -- it decreased by about $100 million to $426 million due to changes in working capital. That doesn't concern me so much right now, though, since Kimberly-Clark will probably do well over the coming years in terms of cash generation. The company, by the way, has been repurchasing stock, so management seems pleased with the shares as a potential investment idea.
Kimberly-Clark, which is a consumer-products business in the league of entities such as Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), Energizer (NYSE: ENR), Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL), and Unilever (NYSE: UL), could be a value right now based on its P/E ratio and dividend yield. Out of the stocks mentioned here, I like P&G the best, but I do respect Kimberly-Clark -- in fact, it was mentioned recently in an article by Steven Halpern that centered on an analyst's picks for quality and yield.
Disclosure: I don't own shares in any of the companies mentioned; positions can change at any time.
This post is part of our Battle of the Brands feature. Let us know which brand you prefer, and check out other Battle of the Brands posts. 
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Here are some highlights from this past week's 
This post is part of our 
Here are some highlights from this past week's 
Colgate-Palmolive
Consumers these days are so lacking in confidence that 
Stocks futures were lower early Wednesday morning as investors awaited not only a rate decision from the Federal Reserve this afternoon but several key economic indicators and lots of corporate earnings too. 
Kimberly-Clark
The Wal-Mart Weekly: Examining shareholder resolutions, Part 2
Earnings expectations for JC Penney, Nordstrom, Macy's, Abercrombie and others
Comfort Zone Investing: Financial stocks: Is the worst over yet?
