We are buying 85 shares of Abbott Laboratories at roughly $113.91 and selling 60 shares of Procter & Gamble at roughly $158.97. Following the trades, Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust will own 360 shares of ABT, increasing its weighting to 1.28% from 0.98%, and 490 shares of PG, decreasing its weighting to 2.46% from 2.75%. We’re making a small swap to add to our newest position in the portfolio. Procter & Gamble is off to a strong start this year, rallying more than 8% off the strength of its much better-than-expected quarterly earnings report . The quarter showed a 4% increase in organic sales, thanks to the consumer staple company’s ability to raise prices on its products while also improving volumes. Easing commodity costs also led to a significant boost to profit margins. We appreciate PG for its quality, consistency, and defensiveness. But after this quick sprint higher, it’s prudent to lock in a sale and take a small gain of about 1% on stock purchased in May 2022. We are reallocating that capital to another high-quality, consistent grower that also shares defensive qualities but may be more underappreciated: Abbott Labs. As we detailed last week when we started a position in this healthcare company, Abbott Labs is firing on all cylinders. The company just wrapped up a year in which organic revenue increased 11.6%, excluding Covid testing sales, with strong growth across all four of its segments: medical devices, nutrition, diagnostics, and established pharmaceuticals. This momentum is expected to continue in 2024, with management forecasting organic sales to grow 8% to 10%. In addition, 2024 could be a strong year for healthcare, especially for a best-of-breed medical device maker like Abbott. GE Healthcare’s upbeat post-earnings conference call on Tuesday strengthened our view. Stay tuned for a full earnings analysis on GEHC later today. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long ABT and PG. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC…
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