Goldman Sachs reviews US consumer staples sales data for August from NielsenIQ

Investing.com -- Goldman Sachs released NielsenIQ data for the week ending August 8, showing total store sales increased 1% in the latest four-week period. Sales growth slowed to nearly flat levels in the most recent two weeks compared to the prior two weeks.

Pet Care and Health & Beauty Care led sales growth over the latest four-week period. Household Care and Grocery showed modest growth, while Baby Care remained flat. General Merchandise, Alcohol, Tobacco, and Dairy posted declines.

Food and Health & Personal Care sales trends moved in opposite directions during the latest four-week period. Food sales declined modestly, while Health & Personal Care sales growth accelerated compared to the previous month. Two-year stacked sales growth slowed across both categories.

Within Health & Personal Care, NYSE:CHD led year-over-year growth as increased promotional sales drove mid-to-high single-digit volume growth in the latest four-week period. NYSE:PG and NYSE:KMB also showed strength, with Procter & Gamble's growth balanced between volume and price, while Kimberly-Clark's growth came primarily from volume. NYSE:CL posted low single-digit sales growth, though trends slowed from the previous month due to lower price growth. NYSE:CLX showed sequential sales improvement as greater price investments combined with strong volume growth. NYSE:KVUE lagged the group with less than 1% sales growth, though this marked improvement from declines in the previous month.

In beverages, dollar sales growth trends weakened across most non-alcoholic categories on a two-week versus four-week basis, including coconut water, energy drinks, sparkling water, sports drinks, ready-to-drink coffee and ready-to-drink tea. Dollar sales growth remained stable for carbonated soft drinks and bottled water.

Among non-alcoholic beverage companies, dollar sales growth improved for NASDAQ:PEP and NYSE:COCO on a four-week basis versus last month. Dollar sales growth slowed for all other non-alcoholic beverage companies during the same period, including NASDAQ:KDP, NYSE:KO, NASDAQ:CELH and NASDAQ:MNST.

In alcoholic beverages, dollar sales growth remained stable for wine, beer and flavored malt beverages, ciders and seltzers on a two-week versus four-week basis. Spirits showed modest deceleration over the same period. By company, dollar sales growth remained stable for NYSE:STZ, NYSE:TAP and NYSE:SAM on a four-week basis versus last month, while dollar sales growth slowed for NYSE:BF.

In tobacco and nicotine, dollar sales declines accelerated modestly for the overall cigarette category in the most recent two-week period versus the prior four-week period. Dollar sales growth trends remained stable for NYSE:MO and NYSE:BTI on a four-week basis versus last month, while dollar sales growth slowed modestly for NYSE:IMB and NYSE:PM.

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