The Procter & Gamble Company (PG), Unilever plc (ADR) (UL) : The Consumer Goods Giant That Donald Yacktman Is Bullish About

Both offer good yields but are not cheap

However, at $62 per share when Ackman purchased The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG), it was a bargain price for a great business that was turning around. Ackman has made a nice return on his P&G investment. P&G is trading around $78 per share, a sweet 25.8% capital gain compared to his original investment in the company. At this price, P&G is worth more than $213 billion on the market. The market values P&G at 17.9 times its forward earnings and 12.3 times its EV/EBITDA. Getting in P&G at its current price, investors could get a decent dividend yield of around 2.9%. Unilever plc (ADR) (NYSE:UL) is trading at around $42 per share, with a total market cap of $118.8 billion. The market values Unilever at a higher valuation than P&G, at 18.2 times forward earnings and 12.1 times EV/EBITDA. Income investors might love Unilever more with its higher dividend yield at 3.1%.

Another giant peer in the consumer good with a decent dividend yield is Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL), the global leader in toothpaste and toothbrush. At $119 per share, Colgate-Palmolive is worth around $55.6 billion. The market also values the company at double digit valuations, at 18.8 times forward earnings and 13.4 times EV/EBITDA. Income investors would also love this company, as it has kept raising dividends for the past 10 years, from $0.9 per share in 2003 to $2.44 per share in 2012. At its current trading price, the dividend yield stays at 2.1%.

The Foolish bottom line

With the global leading consumer brands, The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG), Unilever plc (ADR) (NYSE:UL) and Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL) could fit well in the long-term investment portfolios. In addition, income investors could get decent dividends, which could be expected to keep increasing in the future.

Anh HOANG has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Procter & Gamble and Unilever.