Procter & Gamble attracts Outperform rating from Oppenheimer

Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) tracked slightly higher on Tuesday after Wolfe Research started off coverage on the household products giant with an Outperform rating.

Analyst Greg Badishkanian sees P&G as well positioned to weather the current macroeconomic environment and think supply chain improvements will help the company top earnings expectations.

P&G’s brand portfolio is noted to have delivered strong demand elasticities to date, with management pushing to innovate and reinvest in key brands.

“We view their geographic exposure and balance sheet as defensive, which should support fund flows as investors flee to safety… We believe P&G’s demand elasticities will likely hold better than most as they have streamlined their portfolio and re-invested in their top performing brands (Tide, Gillette, Pampers, etc).”

PG is also said to have a competitive advantage due to its high mix of U.S. sales, which should shelter it from some weakening demand trends globally and FX pressure. Smaller start-ups that compete with P&G are also now more focused on profitability to potentially alleviate some pricing pressure, per the analyst.

Wolfe Research assigned a price target of $156 to Procter & Gamble (PG).

Shares of P&G rose 0.58% in premarket action to $145.22.

Read Seeking Alpha author Bela Lakos’ key pullouts from the Procter & Gamble analyst day.