Procter & Gamble stock sheds 2% after announcing layoffs

Procter & Gamble (PG) stock sold off about 2% on Thursday after announcing major layoffs of its non-manufacturing workforce. The producer of popular brands in the fast-moving consumer goods market said the cuts were due to slowing growth across categories in 2025 and alluded to the Trump administration's ongoing tariff policies as a worry for executives.

The broad market has pulled back on Thursday morning after initially advancing moderately. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), NASDAQ Composite and S&P 500 have all drifted 0.2% lower after news broke that US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping held a telephone call to talk about trade. Investors are bracing for expected Trump social media posts to follow that could greatly sway market direction.

US economic data out on Thursday hasn't helped matters. Initial Jobless Claims for the US labor market last week came in high at 247K, above the consensus of 235K. Nonfarm Productivity for Q1 arrived at -1.5%, a downward gloss from the -0.8% previously. The Challenger Job Cuts report for May showed 93.8K layoffs in the US, down from April's 105K but 47% above the same period one year ago. Year to date, US job cuts are up 80% from the first five months of 2024, and the services sector appears to be the worst hit.

“Tariffs, funding cuts, consumer spending, and overall economic pessimism are putting intense pressure on companies’ workforces," said Andrew Challenger, senior vice president of Challenger, Gray & Christmas. "Companies are spending less, slowing hiring, and sending layoff notices."

Procter & Gamble stock news

Two Procter & Gamble executives spoke at the Deutsche Bank Global Consumer Conference in Paris on Thursday, where the company announced that it would be letting go of about 15% of its non-manufacturing workforce.

The executives admitted that growth has been broad-based through the first three quarters of fiscal '25 but said that growth rates were seeing a pronounced slowdown.

"Category growth rates in the US have slowed from around 4% last calendar year to about 2%," said Chief Financial Officer Andre Schulten. "Based on tariff rates in effect today, we now expect a headwind of approximately $0.03 to $0.04 per share in the fourth quarter. On a full year basis for fiscal '26 and based on the tariff rates currently in place, we estimate the headwind to be around $600 million before tax."

Schulten estimates the cost of this program to be between $1 billion and $1.6 billion before tax, but that a quarter of that cost will be non-cash related.

In late April on its earnings call for the third fiscal quarter, the maker of Head & Shoulders shampoo and Pampers diapers anticipated that full fiscal year core EPS (earnings per share) growth would arrive in the range of 2% to 4% growth versus its prior view for 5% to 7% growth.

Procter & Gamble stock forecast

Procter & Gamble stock has been trading for the past year in a narrow range between $155 and $180, a rather long consolidation period. Following May 30's range high, the odds are for another retesting of the $155 to $160 support range.

The Relative Strength Index (RSI) at 46 is supportive of this thesis, as well as Thursday's price dynamics breaking through support at the 50-day Simple Moving Average (SMA). The pattern of lower highs and lower lows has been ongoing since March 10, and there's no technical reason for optimism until PG shares close above $171 on the daily chart to break this pattern.

In just the past two months, PG stock has found support just below $157, so that appears to be a good entry point for willing buyers.

PG daily stock chart