Procter & Gamble Co.'s fiscal first-quarter results beat Wall Street's view as it controlled expenses and saw solid sales growth in its health care segment. In pre-opening trading, P&G's shares gained more than 2%.
Results are the first since P&G closed its $11 billion deal with Coty last week. P&G has been working on transforming its business to better focus on bigger brands with growth potential. The sale of many of its beauty brands to Coty was the biggest move to shed some of the smaller brands that collectively contribute little to its operating profit.
Chairman, President and CEO David Taylor said in a statement that the company is "now focusing all our efforts on 10 large, structurally attractive categories where P&G holds leading positions."
P&G, the world's largest consumer products maker, earned $2.71 billion, or 96 cents per share, for the period ended Sept. 30. A year ago the Cincinnati-based company earned $2.6 billion, or 91 cents per share.
Earnings, adjusted to account for discontinued operations and restructuring costs, were $1.03 per share. That topped the 98 cents per share that analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research expected.
Revenue was basically flat at $16.52 billion. Analysts polled by Zacks expected revenue of $16.45 billion.
Sales for the health care unit climbed 4%, while sales for the fabric and home care division edged up 1%. For fiscal 2017, P&G still expects adjusted earnings per share growth of mid-single digits compared with fiscal 2016's earnings of $3.67 per share. Analysts polled by FactSet predict earnings of $3.88 per share.