We are selling 50 shares of Procter & Gamble at roughly $169.86. Following the trade, Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust will own 400 shares of PG, decreasing its weighting in the portfolio to 2.15% from 2.4%. In all the recent volatility, we’ve talked a lot lately about circling the wagons around high-quality companies that reported strong earnings this earnings season. Our thinking is that those stocks are the ones that have the best chance at rallying again when the market finds its footing. Historically, we would put Procter & Gamble in this camp, but the company did not report a good quarter last week as organic sales growth came up light. We weren’t surprised to see the stock fall in reaction to the print, but we didn’t think it deserved to pull back roughly 5% to under $162, either. Our thinking was quickly confirmed. Ever since earnings, P & G has stormed back despite the market volatility. Since July 31st — the day after P & G reported — the stock has rallied roughly 4% back to about $169 and within a dollar of its all-time closing high, while the S & P 500 has fallen more than 4%. The move here has been based on investors buying quality safety stocks like P & G out of fear of a growth scare in the U.S. economy. The drop in Treasury yields also makes dividend growers like Procter look more attractive. We always say there’s room in any portfolio for a defensive dividend aristocrat like Procter & Gamble, and the market’s recent stretch of turbulence proved its purpose. We think it is still way too early to write off the U.S. economy, so we are getting a great chance here to capitalize on the recent outperformance in PG and trim back a quiet winner this year — P & G shares are up 15% year to date compared with a nearly 11% gain in the S & P 500. In addition, this trim will replenish our cash levels and give us more capacity to buy other quality names that are down much more from their highs. We want to be ready just in case the market retests Monday’s low. We’ll realize a gain of roughly 9% on stock purchased in May 2022. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long PG . See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
