P&G CFO Says Volatility Seen By Consumers ‘Not Necessarily Grounded’ In Current Reality – Retail Finds No Reason To Be Pessimistic

CFO Andre Schulten said consumers are tapping into existing pantry stock and seeking out savings through smaller, promotional-priced items or bulk buys via club stores and online platforms.

Procter & Gamble (PG) CFO Andre Schulten said on Tuesday that consumption trends are consistently decelerating in the United States and Europe, with both lower-income and higher-income consumers reacting to the current volatility due to macro uncertainty.

“The volatility the consumer is seeing is maybe not necessarily grounded in their current reality but more on what to expect for the future,” Schulten said during a post-earnings call.

“So, consumers are a bit more careful in terms of consumption. They are using up pantry inventory, and they are looking for value either in smaller packs and promotions or in larger pack sizes in the club channel and online,” he added.

Shares of P&G were up nearly 1% in early trading after the company beat fourth-quarter sales and profit expectations.

Retail sentiment on the stock remained unchanged in the ‘bullish’ category with ‘high’ levels of chatter, according to Stocktwits data.

In April, P&G had said it would have to hike prices on some of its products in the United States to offset the impact from the tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump.

According to a Reuters report on Tuesday, a company spokesperson said that price hikes have been communicated to retailers such as Walmart and Target and are in the mid-single digits across categories and will be seen on shelves starting in August.

P&G has forecast fiscal 2026 net sales to increase between 1% and 5%, compared with Wall Street expectations of a 3.1% rise, according to data compiled by Fiscal AI.

The Tide detergent maker expects annual core earnings per share to be between $6.83 and $7.09 per share, with a mid-point estimate of $6.96. Analysts, on average, are expecting $7.03.

P&G said its outlook includes around $1 billion before-tax, or about $800 million after-tax, in higher costs from tariffs. 

The stock has fallen over 6% year-to-date and has declined nearly 3% in the last 12 months.

A bullish user on Stocktwits said P&G never misses earnings and it was time to see some stock growth for the rest of the year.

On Monday, P&G announced CEO Jon Moeller was stepping down and Chief Operating Officer Shailesh Jejurikar would succeed him as the top boss next year.

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