Procter & Gamble Co. $64 - New York symbol PG

PROCTER & GAMBLE CO. $64 (New York symbol PG; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 2.8 billion; Market cap: $179.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.3; Dividend yield: 3.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.pg.com) is one of the world’s largest makers of household and personal-care products. Some of its top brands are Tide detergent, Crest toothpaste, Head & Shoulders shampoo and Pampers diapers. The company gets 60% of its sales from outside the U.S. Procter is streamlining its business. That includes dropping some less-profitable brands and cutting a third of its suppliers. These moves should free up more cash for advertising and marketing. As well, lower costs will give Procter more flexibility to cut its prices without hurting its profit margins. Meanwhile, the company earned $3.3 billion in its 2011 second quarter, which ended December 31, 2010. That’s up 5.8% from $3.1 billion a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 9.9%, to $1.11 from $1.01, on fewer shares outstanding. If you exclude an unusual tax gain and costs related to an investigation of the company by European competition regulators, earnings per share would have risen 2.7%, to $1.13 from $1.10. Sales rose 1.5%, to $21.3 billion from $21.0 billion. Sales volumes rose 6%, but unfavourable currency-exchange rates and lower selling prices in developing countries offset this growth. If you exclude these factors, sales would have risen 3% in the latest quarter. The stock trades at 16.1 times Procter’s likely 2011 earnings of $3.98 a share. That’s a high p/e ratio for a consumer-products company. However, it’s still reasonable in light of Procter’s strong overseas growth prospects. By 2016, it plans to introduce 250 products in countries where they have not been sold before. Procter & Gamble is a buy.