Over 80% consumer staple stocks beat estimates: Earnings scoreboard

With earnings season in focus, 11 consumer defensive/staples names part of the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSEARCA:XLP [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/XLP]) reported their quarterly results last week, with names like Altria (MO [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/MO]), Kimberly-Clark (KMB [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/KMB]), Mondelez (MDLZ [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/MDLZ]), and others in focus.

During the week, 9 of the 11 reporting defensive stocks that are part of the fund (XLP [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/XLP]) posted an earnings beat, while 2 gave mixed results.

QUICK RECAP OF LAST WEEK'S EARNINGS FROM SECTOR GIANTS:

Shares of Altria (MO [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/MO]) are under modest selling pressure into Thursday’s open as the cigarette maker met expectations on the bottom-line for Q3 but [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4511246-altria-group-reports-mixed-q3-results-raised-fy25-guidance-misses-at-the-midpoint] realized a 1.5% drop in revenue that was larger than Wall Street anticipated.

Church & Dwight (CHD [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/CHD]) showed Q3 [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4512541-church-and-dwight-signals-3_49-eps-outlook-for-2025-while-expanding-touchland-and-marketing] revenue was up 5%, with organic sales up 3.4%. Adjusted gross margin was 45.1%, a 10 basis point increase from a year ago. CFO Lee McChesney outlined the improved outlook: “For the year, we now expect reported sales growth of approximately 1.5% versus a prior year midpoint view of 1.0 as we expect TOUCHLAND's momentum to continue in the fourth quarter.”

Shares of Colgate-Palmolive (CL [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/CL]) reversed early premarket gains and slipped into the red as the company’s lowered expectation for full year sales overshadowed a beat on Q3 profits [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4512193-colgate-palmolive-non-gaap-eps-of-0_91-beats-by-0_02-revenue-of-5_13b-in-line#hasComeFromMpArticle=false#source=section%3Amain_content%7Cbutton%3Abody_link%7Cfirst_level_url%3Anews]and in-line sales.

Mondelez International (MDLZ [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/MDLZ]) CEO Dirk Van de Put highlighted ongoing market challenges in Europe. Van de Put explained that elasticity in Europe is "around 0.7, 0.8, it's higher than we would have expected where -- our thinking was more like 0.4, 0.5," and outlined actions including innovation, investment in advertising, and promotional effectiveness.

Overall, roughly 85% of the S&P 500 consumer staples (XLP [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/XLY#hasComeFromMpArticle=false#source=section%3Amain_content%7Cbutton%3Abody_link%7Cfirst_level_url%3Anews]) companies have exceeded consensus EPS estimates so far this quarter.

For the upcoming week, notable consumer staple tickers scheduled to report results are Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/ADM]), Bunge Global (BG [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/BG]), Kenvue (KVUE [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/KVUE]) and Molson Coors Beverage (TAP [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/TAP]).

ETFs linked to consumer staples: (NYSEARCA:VDC [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/VDC]), (NYSEARCA:FXG [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/FXG]), (NYSEARCA:IYK [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/IYK]), (NYSEARCA:KXI [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/KXI]), (NYSEARCA:FSTA [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/FSTA]), (NASDAQ:PSL [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/PSL])
[Trolley filled with groceries in wholesale store Landscape]
Smile/DigitalVision via Getty Images

MORE ON CONSUMER STAPLES

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* Weekly consumer staples check: Bungee Global and Estee Lauder tops chart [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4505107-weekly-consumer-staples-check-bungee-global-and-estee-lauder-tops-chart]