Kimberly-Clark Earnings Win Tempered by Spin-Off Restructuring

Photo of Chris Lange
By Chris Lange Published
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

Kimberly-Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB) reported its third-quarter results Tuesday before the market opened as $1.61 in earnings per share and $5.44 billion in revenue. That was against Thomson Reuters consensus estimates of $1.54 in earnings per share and $5.36 billion in revenue. In the third quarter of the previous year, it posted $1.44 in earnings per share and $5.26 billion in revenue.

Net income for the quarter was $582 million, compared to the previous year’s $565 million.

This quarter the company initiated a restructuring program to improve organization efficiency and offset the impact of stranded overhead costs. The restructuring is expected to cost $130 million to $160 million after-tax and generate cumulative pretax savings of $120 million to $140 million.

Kimberly-Clark has four segments that reported for this quarter:

  • Personal Care sales increased by 4% to $2.5 billion.
  • Consumer Tissue sales increased by 4% to $1.7 billion.
  • KC Professional sales increased 4% to $0.9 billion.
  • Health Care sales decreased by 3% to $0.4 billion.

ALSO READ: The 10 Safest High-Yield Dividends

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Thomas J. Falk said:

We delivered another very good quarter of results, with solid organic sales growth, significant cost savings and margin improvement, and double-digit growth in adjusted earnings per share. We also made further progress with targeted growth initiatives, launched product innovations and supported our brands with increased advertising spending. We generated strong cash flow and continued to allocate capital in shareholder-friendly ways. I’m encouraged with our execution in a challenging environment. And our full-year guidance is consistent with our previous outlook, adjusting for the spin-off of our health care business.

Shares of Kimberly-Clark were up over 1.5% to close out Monday at $108.04. There has been practically no reaction in premarket trading. What seems to be taking place is that investors are taking a sideline view during the restructuring period.

The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $110.50 and a 52-week moving average of $98.00 to $114.45. The company has a market cap of $40 billion.

Photo of Chris Lange
About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.

Featured Reads

Our top personal finance-related articles today. Your wallet will thank you later.

Continue Reading

Top Gaining Stocks

CBOE Vol: 1,568,143
PSKY Vol: 12,285,993
STX Vol: 7,378,346
ORCL Vol: 26,317,675
DDOG Vol: 6,247,779

Top Losing Stocks

LKQ
LKQ Vol: 4,367,433
CLX Vol: 13,260,523
SYK Vol: 4,519,455
MHK Vol: 1,859,865
AMGN Vol: 3,818,618