Procter & Gamble to face uneasy shareholders

Many in the audience are often retirees, including former P&G employees who have substantial investments in the company, whose products include Crest toothpaste, Gillette shavers and Pampers diapers.

Long a stable growth stock, P&G's shares--which are still a component of the Dow Jones industrial average--haven't been immune from recent Wall Street gyrations.

"We'd like to hear that it's going to go up," said Mary Ossman, planning to attend Tuesday morning's meeting with her husband Jim. She said P&G is one of the major holdings among the retired couple's investments.

"None of it's very good at the moment, but up until recently, P&G has been doing OK," she said. "To be honest with you, it's very difficult to feel entirely confident about anything."

A year ago, P&G stock was on a hot streak that included 12 straight days of record closes just before the shareholders meeting. It moved on to a split-adjusted record high of $75.18 in December, but fell in recent weeks to close last Friday at $59.56.

Shares bounced back Monday amid a broad upswing in the market, gaining $3.73 or 6.3 percent to $63.29.

A.G. Lafley, P&G's chief executive, said recently that P&G sales had been largely unaffected by the nation's economic crisis, but the company's customers and suppliers were feeling the effects of the credit crunch. He and other P&G officials have said that the company's brand strength--including 24 brands with annual sales of $1 billion or more--and everyday usage of its household items help it during a time when many consumers' budgets are tight.

Dan Kiley, president of Cincinnati-area Retirement Capital Advisors, has been advising his clients--nearly all of them P&G retirees or their relatives--to hang on.

"I think people who have owned P&G stock for years have been comfortable relying on that company to take them through volatile markets," Kiley said. "While the average consumer is cutting back on big-ticket items, they're still going to buy those products that make them feel good and look good--even if their 401(k) doesn't."