We buying more of this defensive stock now that some bad news is out of the way
We’re buying 75 shares of Procter & Gamble at roughly $143 each. Following Tuesday’s trade, Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust will own 400 shares of PG, increasing its weighting to about 1.5% from about 1.25%. Shares of P & G tumbled more than 2.5% on Tuesday after CFO Andre Schulten said some disappointing things about the company’s U.S. business at the Morgan Stanley Global Consumer & Retail Conference. Schulten described the U.S. market as “the most volatile we’ve seen in a long time.” “We knew the consumer was more nervous and cautious. We knew that there was a stronger competitive environment, and we also knew that we had a stronger base period with consumer loading due to two port strikes in the base, where consumers stocked up in fear of product rationing. So all of those things were known,” the CFO said. “What we didn’t know was obviously the incremental context that was provided with the government shutdown, SNAP benefits, etcetera.” The consumer products powerhouse, behind Crest and other well-known brands, said its most recent readings showed spending in the household category is down both in volume and value “significantly” in October.November is also expected to be weak. If there is a silver lining to this downbeat news, it’s that Schulten said a tougher U.S. backdrop is already factored within the guidance range the company previously provided when P & G reported its fiscal 2026 first-quarter results in October. Over fiscal 2026, the company expects organic sales growth in the range of flat to up 4% versus the prior year and core earnings per share growth of flat to up 4% year over year. Another positive, Schulten said there were “pockets of real strength” in several other geographies, including China, Western Europe, and Latin America. Our interpretation of this update is that forward earnings estimates need to come down, explaining the pullback in the stock price Tuesday. However, the cut shouldn’t be too significant since guidance is intact.With this bad news about the U.S. now out of the way, we’re treating this weakness as another buying opportunity to build up a small position that will act defensively in the market if there’s a pullback in the AI trade. If there is no AI pullback, the portfolio will certainly benefit from the handful of tech and AI-related stocks that we currently own. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long PG. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
