The consumer products giant reported that its second quarter earnings fell by 3% on a very slight revenue gain. Higher product costs as well as spin-off charges were drags on the report, and the impact is dragging on Kimberly-Clark shares.
The second-quarter earnings report from Kimberly-Clark was a profit of $509 million, or $1.35 earnings per share (EPS). This is down marginally from the $526 million or $1.36 per share a year ago. If you back out all the items for an adjusted operating earnings per share, well that number magically grew to $1.49 EPS from $1.41 a year ago. Thomson Reuters was calling for $1.50 per share.
Kimberly-Clark revenue rose by just over 1% to $5.3 billion. Its organic sales were represented as being up 5% if you back out foreign exchange and other unusual items. Thomson Reuters was calling for $5.33 billion in revenue.
Guidance is also a problem. The company narrowed its guidance, which is to the lower end of the expected range adjusted earnings were put between $6.00 to $6.15 in EPS versus $6.12 expected from Thomson Reuters. The company claims to be on track and optimistic to generate attractive shareholder returns.
The coming spin-off Halyard Health is now expected to be completed by the end of the third quarter. Other restructuring charges will come to $300 million to $350 million. Third-quarter cash from operations was $842 million (versus a $576 million a year ago) and second-quarter share repurchases were 4.3 million shares at a cost of $476 million.
Kimberly-Clark shares closed down 0.8% at $112.31 on Monday, against a 52-week range of $91.44 to $114.45, and shares were indicated down around $110.75 in early indications on Tuesday morning.
Top Gaining Stocks
Top Losing Stocks