Consumer Staples Companies Have Been Handed a Gift From the Coronavirus Lockdown

In just a month's time, consumer shopping behavior made a massive adjustment. Americans went from busy and on-the-go to stuck at home and shopping almost exclusively online. While e-commerce has and will continue to be a long-term secular shift, this latest development is creating a big one-time jump for the already large digital world.

However, pegging e-commerce as a beneficiary is only part of the story. During the week ending April 5, researcher Black Box Intelligence reported that average restaurants witnessed a staggering 62% drop in comparable-store sales (foot traffic and guest ticket size), and grocery store spend as a percentage of food budgets went from 66% in January to 78% in March.

Take healthcare, home care, and personal care product manufacturing giant Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) as another example. The company reported a 6% increase in organic sales and a 16% increase in core earning per share during its January-to-March 2020 quarter, well ahead of expectations. CEO Jon Moeller reported that the company's five largest North American plants produced an average 22% more product in March than the trailing 12-month average.

Source Fool.com