P&G tops 1Q profit target

October 30, 2001 Posted: 1450 GMT

NEW YORK (CNNmoney) -- Procter & Gamble Co. posted higher operating profits for the latest quarter Tuesday, topping Wall Street forecasts, and said it is on target to hit full-year profit targets.

The maker of Tide detergent, Crest toothpaste, Ivory soap and Pampers diapers said it earned $1.34 billion, or 96 cents a share, excluding special items in its fiscal first quarter, ended Sept. 30. Analysts surveyed by earnings tracker First Call expected 94 cents a share, up from $1.29 billion, or 92 cents a share, a year earlier.

Including special charges such as restructuring costs, the company said net income fell 4 percent to $1.1 billion, or 79 cents a share, from $1.16 billion, or 82 cents a share, a year earlier.

Sales fell 2 percent to $9.77 billion from about $9.97 billion and came in just below First Call forecasts of $9.8 billion. The company said sales would have been flat without the change in currency exchange rates. Sales declined in most of its business units, with only health-care products seeing a 19 percent revenue gain.

Cincinnati-based P&G (PG: up $1.70 to $73.00, Research, Estimates) said it is looking for a low to mid-single digit percentage gain in earnings per share in the second quarter, which is in line with the First Call EPS forecast of 97 cents compared with 93 cents a year earlier. The company also said it expects full-year EPS of $3.40 to $3.50, excluding a charge for accounting for intangible assets, which is in line with its previous guidance and is at or above the First Call forecast of $3.40.

P&G has been trying to shed some lesser brands such as Crisco cooking oil and shortening and Jif peanut butter, both of which it has agreed to sell to J.M. Smucker Co. (SJM: Research, Estimates). At the same time is in the process of buying Clairol hair-care products from drugmaker Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY: Research, Estimates) for about $5 billion cash.

P&G stock rose about 1 percednt in early trading.