Colgate Supports Estimates After Procter & Gamble Warns

Colgate-Palmolive

(CL) - Get Report

reaffirmed its first-quarter and 2001 earnings estimates after competitor

Procter & Gamble

(PG) - Get Report

lowered guidance for the second half of the fiscal year.

Analysts polled by

First Call/Thomson Financial

expect Colgate to earn 43 cents a share in the first quarter and $1.91 for the year. Colgate executives will offer more information on the company's performance at the

Merrill Lynch Global Branded Consumer Products Conference

on Tuesday.

Procter & Gamble said a weakening Turkish lira will push down earnings in the third fiscal quarter. The company expects a profit for the quarter of 69 cents to 72 cents. Analysts expect the company, which is based in Cincinnati, to earn 72 cents in the third quarter and $3.15 for the year. Procter & Gamble said earnings for the year will be four to five cents below its previous expectations, which puts the company at the low end of Wall Street's estimates. In January, P&G said it was "comfortable with the high end" of analysts' expectations.

Turkey, which is experiencing political, as well as financial instability, is Procter & Gamble's 12th largest business. The country represents more than $400 million in annual sales.

Procter & Gamble slipped $4.53, or 6%, to $70.50 on the

New York Stock Exchange

. Colgate, which is based in New York, lost 43 cents, or 0.7%, to $57.97.