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Evercore ISI is less bullish going forward when it comes to Procter & Gamble . The investment firm downgraded shares of the household and personal care company to an in line rating from outperform. Analyst Robert Ottenstein’s new price target of $170, down from $190, represents an 8% upside from the stock’s Friday close. The biggest current obstacle for Procter & Gamble comes from consumers increasingly buying more goods from Amazon, Evercore said. Although the company is performing well in traditional brick-and-mortar stores such as Walmart and Costco, Evercore ISI’s research points to relative share losses in Amazon. This is a problem, given the e-commerce seller’s status as the fastest U.S. retailer in household and personal care goods. “In the U.S., Amazon now accounts for 50% of all HPC growth, which creates a 2-point growth gap or one point globally relative to Procter’s core retailers, mainly Walmart and Costco, where the firm remains competitively advantaged given scale and product superiority,” Ottenstein wrote. “A parallel shift to pure online in China compounds macro pressures and could delay a turnaround.” This shift towards Amazon could cap the company’s sales growth below the 4% required to drive operating leverage, Ottenstein added. “PG already discounts risk of slowing sales from macros, but the adverse impacts from channel shifts often take longer,” he wrote. “We see the shift to online as structural ─ stirring retailers like Walmart to invest in online marketplaces ─ and one that’s difficult to address under Procter’s current organization, at least in the short-term, considering increased macro volatility.” PG YTD mountain PG YTD chart Shares of Procter & Gamble have shed 6% this year.
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