Procter & Gamble PG
The three reasons
- 1
P&G earns $4 EPS today but should earn $6 by FY2016 at 24% EBIT margin
- 2
Organic growth of 3% lags every major peer (Unilever 7%, Colgate 6%) despite better category mix
- 3
Stock at $78 is worth $125 in two years — a 26% compound annual return
Primary demands
- Hold current CEO Bob McDonald accountable for sustained peer underperformance
- Replace CEO with internal or external candidate if turnaround does not materialize in next 2-3 quarters
- Raise cost-savings and COGS productivity targets above the February 2012 $10bn plan
- Separate Chairman and CEO roles
- Improve organizational design and execution discipline
- Continue aggressive share repurchases
KPIs cited
Pattern membership
Where this document fits across the library's 12 rhetorical / structural patterns.
Notable slides (8)
Notes
Ira Sohn Conference presentation titled 'A Rising Tide is a Good Gamble.' Follow-up, not initial thesis — Pershing Square's PG position became public in July 2012, and this May 2013 deck is a mid-campaign pressure update arguing the turnaround is lagging and setting a 2-3 quarter ultimatum for CEO Bob McDonald. Rhetoric leans analytical but is pointed: slide 33 lists 21 outside organizations McDonald belongs to (~50 days/year), and slides 23 & 28 weaponize former CEO A.G. Lafley's own past statements (52% gross margin target; 24% EBIT margin post-Gillette) to argue management has walked away from stated goals. Core SCQA structure: great business under-earning, management taking steps but not enough, $125 target = 60% upside. No sum-of-parts breakup; thesis is operational/margin-expansion with implicit management change. Visually functional PowerPoint, not Ackman's Canadian Pacific tier. Bob McDonald was in fact replaced by Lafley later in May 2013 — campaign effectively won on the accountability front.