Key Highlights

  • Procter & Gamble's (PG) Bollinger Band width has compressed to 4.3% of price, with shares sitting near all three major moving averages.
  • The last quarter's EPS of $1.43 missed the $1.45 consensus; fiscal-year Revenue reached $87.03 billion, up 3.3%.
  • P&G is buying Thorne from L Catterton for $3.8 billion and reports fiscal Q1 results on Oct. 22.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) rose 0.1% to $145.90 in pre-market trading as its Bollinger Band width compressed to 4.3%, with the stock pinned right between its 20-day, 50-day and 200-day averages. The consumer giant, which is buying supplement maker Thorne for $3.8 billion, reports fiscal Q1 results on Oct. 22 after its last quarter's EPS missed by two cents.

Procter & Gamble's Bollinger Band width has compressed to 4.3 percent of price. Bollinger Bands track how widely price moves around its 20-day average; a narrow band means Volatility has dried up, and those quiet stretches often end with a decisive move. With the Oct. 22 Earnings date approaching, that breakout could come soon.

P&G has been busy. The $3.8 billion Thorne deal pushes the company deeper into health and wellness supplements, and its SPARK program is Training its 104,000-person workforce in digital Manufacturing skills. On Sept. 25, an Italian regulator closed a probe into a P&G hair-removal device. Argus cut the stock to Hold about seven weeks ago.

Procter & Gamble (PG) Lags Household Peers

Colgate-Palmolive rose 0.5% and Kimberly-Clark gained 0.3%, while PG closed near the bottom of its $145.68 to $149.20 range. The $1.71 move equaled about 0.7x the 14-day average true range of $2.32, and trading value of about $1.08 billion was below the typical $1.28 billion. PG is up 2.7% year-to-date and has a market Capitalization of about $338.4 billion.

PG Technical Levels: Sitting on Every Average

PG sits just above its 20-day Moving Average of $145.84 and just below its 50-day of $146.08 and 200-day of $147.49. When price is stuck right among all three averages, the market has no clear trend, which is exactly what a squeeze looks like.

The 14-day RSI is 48.8. RSI measures buying versus selling pressure on a 0 to 100 scale, and a reading near 50 is neutral.

MACD is 0.34, above its 0.19 signal line. MACD tracks momentum, and staying above the signal line gives bulls a slight edge.

Support is at $142.01, and resistance at $148.37. A close above $148.37 would clear the 200-day average and signal an upside breakout.

Dividend and Valuation

P&G pays $4.36 a year, a Yield of about 3.0%, and has raised its Dividend for 70 consecutive years. The consensus rating is Buy, with an average target near $160.61, about 10% above the current price.

Peers Moving on This News

  • Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) up 0.5%
  • Kimberly-Clark (NASDAQ:KMB) up 0.3%