Procter & Gamble Co. issued a wider range than usual for its annual sales outlook, underscoring the volatility U.S. companies continue to navigate even as the Trump administration begins to strike

trade deals

.

The maker of Tide detergent and Gillette razors expects organic sales growth this year to range between flat to up four per cent versus the prior year, the company said Tuesday in a statement. This projection includes raising some prices, P&G said.

The top end of that range would be a faster pace of growth than the most recent fiscal year, which ended on June 30, and better than Wall Street’s forecast for 2.6 per cent organic annual sales growth, according to a Bloomberg survey.

P&G’s shares fell as much as 1.4 per cent on Tuesday. The stock had declined about six per cent this year through Monday’s close, trailing an 8.6 per cent advance for the S&P 500.

It will be up to Shailesh Jejurikar to try to meet those targets. P&G said on Monday that it is promoting the 58-year-old from chief operating officer to chief executive. The longtime P&G executive will replace Jon Moeller, who has held the top job for about four years, on Jan. 1.

Moeller, 61, said in an interview on Monday that he was stepping down now because he has been at P&G for nearly four decades and it was time for others to lead the company.

Jejurikar “has helped craft the firm’s strategic playbook (centred on stringently extracting costs while directing additional resources toward product innovation that resonates with consumers and marketing that fare),” Morningstar analyst Erin Lash wrote in a research note. “We don’t expect it to pivot off its current course.”

P&G is increasing prices by a mid-single-digit percentage on around one-quarter of its products in the U.S. and Canada this quarter, chief financial officer Andre Schulten said during a separate interview. The company had previously said it planned to raise prices to counter tariff costs.

The consumer goods behemoth said on Tuesday that it expects about US$1 billion in higher costs from

tariffs

before taxes in the current fiscal year, a figure that is at the lower end of its previous guidance.

In addition to raising prices, P&G executives are working to counter those higher costs by increasing productivity at the company, shifting where it sources goods from and changing formulations. It is raising prices on products with ingredients that can’t be sourced locally.

The company is trying to improve the products it is increasing prices on. “The consumer is under pressure,” Schulten said. “It’s critical for us to provide better value.”

Schulten also said during a media briefing on Tuesday that U.S. consumers are “clearly more selective” in the current quarter, buying larger pack sizes, seeking out more promotions and spending less in some cases.

P&G issued the same guidance range for its earnings per share: flat to up four per cent, which would equate to a mid-point estimate of US$6.96. That is slightly below the US$6.99 per share that analysts surveyed by Bloomberg are forecasting for the current fiscal year, which ends in June 2026.

Although tariffs and economic uncertainty

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particularly in its most profitable market, the U.S.

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are clouding the outlook for P&G and other major companies, analysts say the conglomerate has the breadth of brands and the financial strength to navigate the challenges better than most.

“We expect top-line growth to stay muted near-term, but with a continued focus on driving innovation across its categories, price tiers and channels, as well as improved efficiency opportunity, we view P&G as one of the better positioned in staples,” Raymond James analyst Olivia Tong wrote in a recent research note.

In the most recent quarter, P&G reported a two per cent increase in organic sales, better than analysts surveyed by Bloomberg forecast. Higher pricing and a favorable mix of products each contributed a one percentage point increase to sales growth.

As part of its productivity push, P&G recently announced a restructuring plan, which includes cutting about 15 per cent of the current non-manufacturing workforce. On Tuesday, Moeller said P&G is discontinuing operations in Bangladesh, a country where the company has been for more than 30 years, primarily operating through a distributor. He also said P&G is streamlining its offering of feminine care pads in several markets in Asia, among other measures.

Bloomberg.com