KMB

Kimberly-Clark stock has declined 11.1% over the past year, yet both its earnings multiples and a Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) intrinsic value estimate currently point to a cheaper valuation than the market price suggests. With the share price near US$110, the key issue for investors is whether this apparent discount fairly reflects the company’s cash generation and risk profile. The 11.1% share price decline over 1 year signals that investors have been cautious on Kimberly-Clark despite a positive return so far this year. Expectations for durable free cash flow and potential benefits from the planned Kenvue acquisition may support the valuation. At the same time, execution risks around integration and ongoing cost pressures can weigh on how much of that value is realized. A value score of 4 out of 6 gives a mixed picture rather than a clear bargain or clear overvaluation, even though both the intrinsic value estimate and market multiples currently suggest Kimberly-Clark is undervalued. The issue now is whether Kimberly-Clark’s share price already reflects these cash flow prospects and risks or if there is still a meaningful discount to intrinsic value. Spot 51 high quality undervalued stocks that, like Kimberly-Clark, show a gap between intrinsic value estimates and current market prices. The Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model estimates what Kimberly-Clark is worth based on the cash it is expected to generate for shareholders. On this model, the company’s latest twelve month free cash flow is about $2.4b, and the projections assume relatively steady cash generation rather than aggressive growth or sharp decline. That stream of cash flows, discounted back using a 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity approach, points to an intrinsic value around $157 per share. Compared with the recent share price near $110, the DCF output implies Kimberly-Clark screens roughly 29.9% undervalued on a pure cash flow basis. The recent focus on using technology to improve supply chain efficiency helps explain why some investors see room for the cash flows that underpin this valuation to remain resilient, even if short term sentiment has been cautious. Overall, the current DCF work suggests Kimberly-Clark stock appears undervalued relative to the cash it is projected to generate. Our Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) analysis suggests Kimberly-Clark is undervalued by 29.9%. Track this in your watchlist or portfolio, or discover 51 more high quality undervalued stocks. Head to the Valuation section of our Company Report for more details on how we arrive at this Fair Value for Kimberly-Clark. The P/E ratio fits Kimberly-Clark well because earnings remain a key focus for a mature consumer staples business. Kimberly-Clark currently trades on a P/E of about 21.8x, which is below the peer average of 26.3x in the Household Products space but above the broader industry average of 17.0x. That mix suggests the stock is not priced as cheaply as the wider sector, yet it does not carry the same valuation as closest peers. The fair P/E ratio implied by the model is 24.3x. Compared with the current 21.8x, this points to a discount that the market is applying relative to what might be expected given Kimberly-Clark’s size, margins and risk profile. The gap is not extreme, but it does indicate that the stock trades below the level suggested by those fundamentals. On this earnings multiple, Kimberly-Clark stock appears undervalued relative to its modelled fair P/E level. See what the numbers say about this price — find out in our valuation breakdown. Kimberly-Clark’s valuation puzzle raises a simple question for you as an investor: Which version of the company’s future would justify today’s share price? Simply Wall St Narratives on the Community page aim to make those assumptions explicit by linking Kimberly-Clark’s possible paths for growth, margins and earnings to specific scenarios where the stock could be worth materially more or less than it is now. Each scenario ties a fair value to its own mix of potential catalysts and risks, so you can observe over time which storyline appears closer to reality. The community is split on Kimberly-Clark, with one side focused on long term margin potential and the other on Kenvue execution risk and category headwinds. Bull case: 6% undervalued Read the full Bull Case to see why Kimberly-Clark could be undervalued Bear case: 23% overvalued Read the full Bear Case to see why Kimberly-Clark could be overvalued Do you think there's more to the story for Kimberly-Clark? Head over to our Community to see what others are saying! For Kimberly-Clark, both the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) intrinsic value estimate and the earnings multiple view currently point to an undervalued stock rather than a stretched one. The overall value checks are mixed, so the current discount is not a clear-cut signal on its own. The important consideration from here is whether Kimberly-Clark can sustain the cash generation and margins that underpin those models while managing Kenvue integration and cost pressures. The key question for investors is whether the present discount compensates sufficiently for those risks or whether it simply reflects them accurately. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Companies discussed in this article include KMB. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email [email protected]

Image source: The Motley Fool. Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026 at 8:00 a.m. ET Vice President, Investor Relations - Chris Jakubik Chairman and Chief Executive Officer - Michael Hsu Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer - Nelson Urdaneta President, North America - Russell Torres Operator: Good morning, and welcome to the Kimberly-Clark Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] I will now hand the floor over to Chris Jakubik, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead. Christopher Jakubik: Good morning, everyone. This is Chris Jakubik, Head of Investor Relations at Kimberly-Clark, and thank you for joining us. I would like to remind everyone that during our comments today, we will make some forward-looking statements that are based on how we see things today. Actual results may differ due to risks and uncertainties, and these are discussed in our earnings release and our filings with the SEC. We will also discuss some non-GAAP financial measures during these remarks. These non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered a replacement for and should be read together with GAAP results. And you can find the GAAP and the reconciliations within our earnings release and the supplemental materials posted at investor.kimberly-clark.com. With that, I'll turn it over to Mike for a few opening comments. Michael Hsu: Thank you, Chris, and thank you all for joining us today. As I mentioned in our prepared remarks, our second quarter results demonstrate the durability of the growth engine we've built through Powering Care. We delivered our 10th consecutive quarter of solid volume plus mix performance, held global weighted share, posted another quarter of industry-leading gross productivity and continued to invest for impact. We did this even as consumers remain pressured and category growth is moderating. At the same time, results were impacted by a few discrete but significant one-off items in the quarter that underpin our decision to adjust our full year outlook. Despite these headwinds, the fundamentals of our business remain strong, and we're confident in our momentum entering the second half and into 2027. Our teams are executing with speed, agility and great care to manage the business with discipline and navigate external dynamics. We're delivering superior science-backed innovation and value propositions around the world through our proven repeatable playbook that positions us to continue to win with consumers. We're advancing the next phase of Kimberly-Clark's transformation and sharpening our focus on proprietary right-to-win spaces. Yesterday, we unveiled a proprietary alternative natural fiber innovation program, which has the potential to reshape the future of our industry. This is the culmination of more than 2 decades of materials and plant science expertise brought to life through Powering Care. We believe the program will enhance product performance for consumers, strengthen our long-term growth trajectory, reduce exposure to natural forest fiber cost volatility and advance our natural forest fiber-free ambition. We also completed the successful launch of Arbex, our strategic joint venture with Suzano. We're making strong progress on our integration planning for Kenvue as well. We're excited and ready for what's next. We have a unique generational opportunity to create a new kind of health and wellness company, reimagine care for billions of people around the world and to create lasting value for shareholders. With that, we'd like to open up the line for questions. Operator: [Operator Instructions] Your first question is coming from Nik Modi from RBC Capital Markets. Nik Modi: So just maybe you can unpack what exactly is going on in China in terms of like how this all started and then what the path forward is? And then I have one more question after that. Russell Torres: Yes, I'll take that one, Nik, it's Russ. Yes, I would say the main message is that we were very confident in our products. We make high-quality products that are safe and perform well. And so we think that's going to lead the way to a recovery over time, but just a little more context, and I'll maybe make 3 points. First, there really is no scientific evidence backing the claims. We did, as we noted in the remarks, make multiple independent tests conducted by certified third-party labs that confirmed that our products are safe and they were non-detect tests. Second, in terms of how we're handling it. Our team is doing an excellent job navigating the situation. We're continuing to cooperate with the Chinese authorities who are managing the issue. And our strategy really is to continue to invest aggressively behind reinforcing the fact about our products and communicating quickly with transparency to consumers, and obviously, engaging stakeholders like retailers and government agencies. And we've got an excellent support from all the stakeholders, which we're really grateful for. And then third, in terms of the outlook and what we expect going forward, we are not seeing any sequential deterioration in our sellout in China, but it also hasn't inflected positively yet. So we think we've been appropriate in the outlook for the balance of the year considering that uncertainty. While we are cautiously optimistic in some areas, I think these incidents have been occurring with greater frequency and consumers are pretty smart and getting savvy about these things. We're also realistic that it's going to take a little time to kind of work through this. So hopefully, that gives you some sense. Michael Hsu: Yes. Nik, it's Mike. I'll just tag on. One, given kind of the social media environment, this is not the first time that's occurred to us, it probably is the largest, though. But I would say, our purpose as a company is better care for a better world, and we take our responsibility to consumers as paramount in that, and we would never trade that off. And so we're very confident in the quality of our products. And so we believe we'll get this back to the right place. I would like to add, Nik, though, that brand foundations globally remain strong in the face of some of the discrete impacts, including the China issue that we're working through. Just to point out, and I think I made this in my prepared remarks, we're still sustaining positive volume plus mix growth. I think our tenth consecutive quarter of that. And then in the -- even in the quarter, I'd say, holding overall weighted share in the quarter, although on the old cohort approach, up or even in about 70% of sales across the world. So I think we feel good about our brand fundamentals, and we're confident we'll be able to navigate this issue. Nik Modi: Great. And then, Mike, it was a really noisy quarter, a lot of stuff going on. Maybe you could just give us some perspective on how you guys performed relative to your internal expectations, just so we can kind of ground ourselves? Michael Hsu: Yes, I'll make a comment, but maybe I'll have Nelson give you that because I think he's a little prepared for that line of thinking. But also, I would agree with you, it's a choppy environment, so I'll come back to that. Nelson Urdaneta: Yes. So Nik, just to unpack a little bit the quarter where we're at, I mean, yes, the second quarter organic growth came in below our expectations. However, strong execution on the tariff refund that we received in the second quarter drove the better-than-expected and solid operating profit growth and EPS performance in the quarter. If we look at organic sales in Q2, we were about 100 basis points or so below our expectations. This was driven primarily by the disruption in our China diaper business, in the back half of June, keep in mind that was only just 2 weeks as well as the trade inventory reduction in North America, which was largely concentrated in adult care and in one particular channel, and that was not something we contemplated when we gave our outlook back in April that bit as well. Lastly, as the softer category growth, because as you remember, we had talked about a 2.5% category growth trailing 12 months back in April, and now we're staring at about 2%. As it relates to adjusted operating profit and EPS, the 2 came in ahead of expectations, as I stated earlier. And this is primarily due to the tariff refund benefit and the really solid productivity we delivered in the quarter, which was 6.4%, which both more than offset the higher levels of brand investment year-over-year. And overall, despite the challenging operating environment that Mike referred to, which included maneuvering through the L.A. distribution center fire, all the Middle East incremental costs that we're managing through and the China diaper disruption. We still had strong execution across all of our markets in general, and this enabled us to deliver solid bottom line and EPS, which was again ahead of expectations. Michael Hsu: Yes. And then, Nik, just back to the point, I would recognize that I think it is a very choppy environment generally for us globally. But I would say the category remains resilient in a choppy environment. If you go on a trailing 12-month basis, for the past few years, our categories on average have been about 2%, 2.5%. And I think that reflects the essential nature of our categories that yield a little more resilient, more stable demand than other categories that I worked with in my past. That all said, though, I would say, Nik, I think you see it too. Consumers are clearly under increased pressure. I think we're seeing sentiment among -- especially among lower income consumers is weakening and we're seeing greater variability in consumption. Weighted growth across our categories in North America moderated sequentially from 3.7% last quarter to 1.9%. If you go further back Q4, I think it was plus 0.4%, right? So it is choppy. But the thing I will tell you is at least some of that choppiness is potentially exacerbated by maybe promotional timing effects. And the reality of our categories compared to some of the food categories that Nelson and Russ and I have worked in the past is we tend to be more concentrated in a smaller number of large retailers. And so I think large promotional events can swing things. And I think we've seen that from quarter-to-quarter. And so I would say we expect promotion kind of variation to normalize over time. Operator: Your next question is coming from Chris Carey from Wells Fargo Securities. Christopher Carey: The first question is a clarification question. What was the tariff refund in the quarter? And do you expect any more? I'm trying to understand the full year guidance, tariff refund versus inflation and the mitigation efforts that you're doing. And so it will help isolate some of those key buckets. And I have a follow-up. Nelson Urdaneta: Sure, Chris. So a few things. I mean in terms of the refund that we received in the quarter in North America, the U.S., it was $45 million. And that represents roughly about half of what we paid in North America as a whole. And keep in mind, that's not just the U.S. because there were some retaliatory tariffs that we paid earlier last year in Canada as well. So overall, this is reflected in our second quarter results and in our updated outlook. For the balance of the year, we don't have anything much more material factored in. So that's largely what's included in our outlook. And right now, beyond that refund, we're continuing to monitor policy environment and what's out there. Christopher Carey: Great. And then going into 2027, there had been an expectation for mid-single-digit dilution from deal activity and then there was going to be an underlying assumption for base Kimberly-Clark, just given what we're seeing in the backdrop for categories in North America and the competitive activity, given the volatility in China and also your latest expectations for Kenvue, which sounds like it's closing in Q4 with good line of sight on synergies. Do you continue to view the 2027 construct as you have laid out as still as tangible or firm as you had done before? Just give us a sense of maybe how a thought process may be evolving as you get a bit more information about both your legacy Kimberly-Clark business and also Kenvue as you go into next year? Nelson Urdaneta: Yes. So Chris, let me unpack your question a little bit. So first, we remain very confident in our ability to create generational value through the Kenvue acquisition, joining forces the 2 companies. Based on what we know today, we do not believe the factors driving our lower stand-alone '26 earnings outlook, and that's for us materially changed the underlying earnings potential of either our stand-alone businesses or the combined company going forward. Now clearly, the exact timing and pace of the recovery in China following the diaper disruption will influence how quickly results normalize. There's also some uncertainty around commodities and the broader macro environment. Given the ongoing Middle East crisis and volatility we're all managing through, the potential impacts on the inflation and consumers as well as the exact timing of the further mitigating actions we may need to take. But some of those are already well underway, and that's why you see the outlook that we put forth. Given all those moving pieces, standing here today, it's early to provide a specific view on '27 because we still have a lot of things that need to land in the back half of the year, including the exact timing of the closing of the transaction. But as I said, we remain very confident in the underlying earnings power and growth potential of the new company. As we get closer to the close of the transaction and we have further clarity on all these moving items over the next few months, we will provide an update on the overall view for 2027 and beyond. But rest assured that we remain very confident in the logic and the generational value that we see this transaction creating. Operator: Your next question is coming from Bonnie Herzog from Goldman Sachs. Bonnie Herzog: I have a question on North America, which came in a bit below our expectations. First, could you unpack the drivers of this softness, including underlying consumption trends versus retailer destocking? And ultimately, how your business in North America performed relative to your internal expectations? Then second, it sounds like you're expecting a stronger 2H. So could you talk through the drivers of this and maybe what gives you the confidence and visibility in this expected improvement? Nelson Urdaneta: Why don't I -- let me unpack the quarter and the half in terms of the puts and takes and the drivers. And then Russ will chime in on why our conviction in the acceleration of the business as we go through Q3 and Q4 and our confidence in our overall North America business and the strength of our propositions for consumers and customers. But as we chatted back in April, Bonnie, I mean, underlying consumption, we expected it to be ahead of shipments for the second quarter in line with what we saw in the first quarter. And as we think about what transcended in the quarter, a couple of things. One, shipments in North America consumer categories, in fact, lagged consumption by about 170 basis points. And to be clear, the shipments were down about 1.4% in consumer as opposed to a consumption growth, which was 0.3%. And that was mainly by 2 factors. The first one, as we chatted back in April, the L.A. distribution center fire would represent a headwind of around 80 basis points to top line in the quarter for North America, and that largely came in as expected, right around $22 million to be exact. And then in addition, we had the retailer inventory movements, which in total year-on-year, impacted shipments growth by roughly 100 basis points versus last year. And of this, we had about half of that was not something we anticipated when we gave you our outlook back in April. And this had to do with a particular channel and largely the adult category. Taken together, these 2 factors largely explain the gap between shipments and consumption. If you look at the first half, 3 factors would have caused shipments to lag consumption by right around 200 basis points for the North American consumer business. And these are, one, the L.A. distribution fire, which was around 40 basis points of a headwind in the half. Then the retailer inventory movements, which, for the half, represented again about 100 basis points year-on-year. And then lastly, as we chatted back in April, we had a heightened activation programming across several channels, particularly club, which started early in Q1. And for these, we had made the shipments largely in the end of 2025. But to add some color on why we see the second half gaining steam, I'll transfer over to Russ on this. Russell Torres: Bonnie, yes, I think overall, look, we are very confident in the health of our North America business. And while Nelson unpacked the drivers of the quarter, which was below expectations. If you kind of look at the bigger picture, we've gained -- we've driven volume plus mix-led growth in 8 of the last 10 quarters. The trailing 12-month share, we've gained share in 70% of our sales base in North America. And if you look at the share in the quarter, the majority of the weighted average share decline was driven by that club distribution loss, which we talked about previously in the last couple of calls. And we do have a very strong innovation pipeline as well as brand investments coming. Our tissue business is performing extremely well. Our e-commerce business continues to perform really well. And in the second half, we'll be scaling those innovations and we've got some very good activation planning as well as some revenue growth management actions coming. So we do feel confident in the second half that the outlook really is to grow in line with our categories, but we'll be able to achieve that considering all the elements that Nelson went through. Nelson Urdaneta: And it's an easier comp as well because the other bit is, remember, Q2 in North America, we had 5% volume growth in North America in the prior year. So the comps get easier as we go into the second half in North America. Operator: Your next question is coming from Michael Lavery from Piper Sandler. Michael Lavery: I just want to touch on innovation and you've laid out a robust pipeline this year, obviously, and you touched on some examples in the prepared remarks, which were great. Maybe just help us understand some of how it's running against expectations and timing. And I guess, specifically, how much wraps maybe into 2027, and maybe it's just overshadowed a bit this year by China disruptions and destocking. But then I would also love to understand the new fiber platform, maybe how quickly that could drive new end products? And what if any upfront costs we should keep in mind about how you launch that? Michael Hsu: Yes. Okay. Thanks, Michael. Yes, overall, on innovation, I'd say we feel great about our innovation that we're launching. And I think we said at the beginning of the year that this is probably the most commercial activation of innovation that we've had in my time here at Kimberly-Clark. And I would tell you, I would say also that pipeline is good going forward. I think if you see kind of what we're doing this year, I think the stuff that we have coming in the next few years, I feel like we're going to be bigger and better than that. And so I'm really excited about our development. And I think that reflects the discipline that we've had in our organization, and this is kind of an artifact of this kind of fast agile matrix that pulls the markets and the functions together, Michael, I think we started looking further -- much further out. And one of our core metrics is future pipeline development, and we're feeling like -- we're feeling pretty good about the trajectory. But maybe, Russ, you may want to comment about some of the in-year. Russell Torres: Yes. I'll just double click a little bit, Mike, on that and talk a little bit more. You may have recalled our Chief R&D Officer, Craig Slavtcheff talking about the pipeline development and that's one of the reasons why we're very confident as we can see into the future, the next 3 years, and the quality of our consumer insights has gotten better and then the Powering Care matrix has really enabled us to scale innovations around the world much more quickly. And so we've done that in femcare. You're seeing the impact of that in IPC, for example, where you've seen our organic growth accelerating our share gains coming through in categories like diapers and that really is significantly driven by innovation, and I think that's what's been powering the North America business, especially in personal care, and now you'seeing it come through in tissue. So it really is a broad-based set rather than any one particular innovation. I think we feel very good about the portfolio we're building and have continued visibility that's going to take shape and gain traction over time through that 3-year funnel process that we've been diligently building with the teams around the world. So I don't know if you want to talk about the fiber one or... Michael Hsu: Yes. Yes, Michael, hopefully, you can tell we're very excited about our alternative natural fiber program. And through that, we really believe we're going to positively impact the category, the planet and the economics of the business. I think material invention has been a core of Kimberly-Clark. 2 weeks ago, I was up in Neenah, and I was meeting with the family of the company's second CEO, a man named F.J. Sensenbrenner and I was reminded by them that under his watch, they launched a product called CelluCotton, and that was an invention at the time that ultimately became Kotex and Kleenex and then eventually bath tissue, but the creation of that tissue-based product. And so I would say this is similar, right? And this is the culmination of over 2 decades of material and plant science investment and development. I really do think this has the potential to become our next great material platform. In the -- with the heritage of CelluCotton, I think we believe we invented global -- or the nonwovens platform as well. And so this would be like that. And I think it's going to be great on the 3 dimensions that I mentioned earlier. Number one, better for consumers. This fiber has unique properties, and it pushes the frontiers of the softness versus strength kind of frontier, right? And so for a given amount of strength, it adds superior softness. And so that will enable us to make a superior tissue. So number two, obviously, we believe it's better for the planet, Michael. It's a farm crop, so that's going to replace natural forest fiber in our production mix. And so because of that, it's also super land efficient. If you think about our requirements for pulp, that's harvested for millions of acres annually, right? And so -- and this product would be very dense, very land efficient and it's grown on a fraction of the acreage to source an equivalent amount of volume. So that's part 2. And then part 3, it's uniquely, it grows only in arid conditions and because of that, it's a water miser, and so it does not consume very much water. And in fact, being a farm crop, then it would take on a fraction of some of the crops that are currently produced in the region. So we're excited about the impact on the planet that we have the potential to have. And then, obviously, we wouldn't be pursuing this if it didn't have good economics. And so it has the potential for us to enhance margins and then, obviously, Michael, further reduce volatility. So that's an update on that. Nelson Urdaneta: And Michael, on investments, just so you're on the loop, I mean we -- this has been factored into our investment profile for the last years, and we -- anything we've invested and anything we've expensed has been part of the results we've been reporting, and we've included in our outlook for the next few years in our strategic plans, the capital requirements to continue to drive this initiative of some of the other ones we're doing. Michael Hsu: Yes. And maybe the -- and I'm sure you may have a follow-up question, Michael. But I mean, one of the reasons we're talking about it now is because being out there and we're breaking ground on a pilot facility. We've already acquired thousands of acres of land to grow this on, right? And so that -- we prefer not to acquire more land. We prefer to turn it into a cash crop for the farming community. And so again, having the larger community to understand kind of what we're trying to do here will also help us be a little more capital efficient. Operator: Your next question is coming from Steve Powers from Deutsche Bank. Stephen Robert Powers: Mike, I was hoping we could go back to North America and really the competitive and promotional environment. I just love a little bit more perspective on how you've seen those conditions evolve over the past 6 months. To what extent it's sort of exacerbated that choppiness and maybe the lower category growth that you spoke to? And most importantly, how do you think it plays out over the balance of the year? Michael Hsu: Yes. Let me start and ask Russ to kind of -- Russ is all over this. But I would say, I think if you look at the facts, clearly, the promotion kind of environment is increasing slightly, right? And we're seeing that both from the other big branded competitors, but also some of the smaller brands, right? And so that -- I would say that comes and goes in this category, and I've been -- I think it was my 14th year here. And so we're seeing -- and I remember like periods of high promotion intensity and then I would say the last several have been a little bit more moderated post COVID. And I think the reality is despite that, those swings, the reality is these are kind of very stable consumption categories where consumption doesn't change because of promotion, right? And so for us, I think having a business that is a little bit more stable allows you to run it more efficiently and allows you to bring the innovation that can help expand the category over time. And so for us, that's why we're not the proponents of driving excessive promotion in our categories. But maybe Russ, you can give him a little more color on that. Russell Torres: Absolutely, Mike, and you said it well. I think, Steve, we're focused on developing compelling value propositions at every tier every day while maintaining pricing and PNOC discipline over time. And in fact, in '25, our promo activity was below both pre-COVID levels and the category. And through the first half of '26, our promotional levels were down versus the prior year and the category in the majority of our categories. We did see, and this is perhaps what you're referring to tick up in competitive activity across multiple categories as well as we did increase promotional support in some categories, especially diapers. And that was specifically done for a purpose that's consistent with what Mike was outlining in terms of the philosophy to drive trial on key innovation launches, and we did also put some promotional activity into the marketplace to help us transition from that club distribution change that we had been talking about for a while. And we'd expect that to normalize for us, and we're going to remain consistently focused on delivering the compelling value propositions every day and PNOC discipline. And so you look for that promo activity for us to normalize over the balance of the year, and we're going to continue focusing on winning with innovation and brand building. And as Mike said, I think we're confident that over time, the wisdom of the fact that promotion doesn't grow the category will find its way back into the market. Stephen Robert Powers: Great. And then I guess, Russ, this is maybe for you as well. But when you guys collectively talk about the Kenvue synergy planning running ahead of expectations. I guess, for those of us on the outside, should we interpret that as greater confidence, maybe faster realization of the existing $1.9 billion cost synergy target? Or are you beginning to identify incremental synergy opportunities with those original assumptions? Russell Torres: Yes. I think what it reflects is greater confidence in the path to achieve that we've outlined at this stage. It's still relatively early, but the bottom-up pipeline that we're building is based on specific initiatives in specific areas that are based on bottoms-up analytics. And now as you probably noticed, we've got kind of 50 teams and 600 people working on this. So I would call them being execution, shovel-ready actions that we feel very confident in converting into a plan that we can confidently forecast delivery of. And so that's exciting to us to have that visibility. It's probably a little early to see how that shakes out over 3 years, but we're working very quickly to fill that in and feel very confident that we're moving in the right direction at pace. I don't know if Nelson has... Nelson Urdaneta: And just to add, Steve, I mean, we're not getting into unpacking what the cadence will be at this stage because, obviously, things are happening that you guys have seen in Kenvue. I mean they've already announced some actions that we are in the process of factoring in to our plans, which, obviously, to the extent that's delivering savings that we would have contemplated, all the better. But again, a lot of moving pieces that we're working through. The overall confidence really goes back to your -- what you said first. Our confidence in the total number of synergies and we'll be back when we get to the closing of the transaction to give an update on what is that cadence, what are those numbers exactly factoring in the actions that Kenvue is taking this year, such that you can do the updates and we can have that all cleared out. Michael Hsu: Yes. And Steve, maybe I'll just add a little topspin on the thing, which is, I think I said when I was with you over the summer, "hey, the closer we look at this thing, the better it gets." And part of it is, certainly, I think right now, we're focused -- and Russ is on point for helping us line up the synergy commitment, right? And so -- but I would tell you, -- so we're not signing up for more than that at this point. But I would say we're feeling very good about the operationalization of that. We did have our leadership teams -- the future leadership team together for a week last month, and then we've had these detailed assessments done of the entire management teams on both companies kind of brought in and just to evaluate as we're selecting talent. And the thing that the lead facilitator from that organization pointed out was the extraordinary unique kind of attribute of the combined team was a deep focus on execution. And we love that because we -- hopefully, you guys are seeing that one of our calling cards is excellent execution, and so as kind of Russ helps us and the integration team leads us through the process, we're gaining confidence in that. That said, and so we're not signing up for more synergies, but I will tell you part of my, the closer you look, the better it gets, is there's more growth in these categories than we originally thought when we did this deal. And I would say these categories are -- especially when we look on the Kenvue side, right. They tend to be a little bit more underdeveloped. Mostly because there's a pretty significant gap between the incidence of a health issue and treatment. And that's a little bit different for us, right? If you think about it, if you are going to the bathroom, you're probably in the bath tissue category or if you have a baby, you're probably in the diaper category. So this gap to incidence isn't really common in our categories. But I think it's very common in the consumer health categories. And so we're really excited about that because that's something that can be expanded through the right category building programming. Stephen Robert Powers: Perfect. I can sense your excitement, Mike. Operator: Your next question is coming from Lauren Lieberman from Barclays. Lauren Lieberman: Just wanted to go back again to pricing and promotional environment in the U.S. I know Russ and Mike, you just kind of covered off on us. But just getting a little bit more specific, I think when we look at Nielsen data, which I know is not the end all be all for what's actually happening in the marketplace. But it's like some of the -- was promotion has now been in the -- from you guys has now been in the market so long and it's actually showing up as lower price not being captured as promotion. So as we think going forward, and with your comments on PNOC and I think what implies some price increases from here, I wanted to try to understand how much of that is less promotional activity versus real list price increases as you manage through cost inflation. Russell Torres: Lauren, I'll take that one. It's Russ. Yes, I think you're right to point that out. And our focus has been growing volume and mix, and you hit the word on the PNOC discipline. And in fact, what you're seeing on the headwinds, I think, have been a few temporary dynamics, and you called out a couple. We have had some temporary promotions in the marketplace but also have made some targeted revenue growth management actions to address specific consumer-driven opportunities and sharpened value surgically. And also, you're also going to see a channel mix element as the consumer looks for more value, both in terms of what channels they're shopping in online and club and pack sizes, that has an impact on our pricing. And so that's part of what you saw in the first half of this year of seeing total company pricing down 50 bps. And over time, innovation and brand activation are going to continue to drive that, but we will be taking pricing actions. So to cover inflation in the second half of this year, and the magnitude of that, if you think about that in the overall portfolio will be kind of low single digits overall. Those are in the marketplace now, and you'll be seeing those come through. And that's part of the balance of the cycle of trying to balance out PNOC discipline over time using all the levers in the toolkit. And again, we've done that in some cases with innovation attached to it, and in other cases, targeted our revenue growth management actions based on just commodity movements that we had to hit. So the main point is, I think, as part of the cycle, we're looking at innovation and brand building is the thing that will carry price mix over the long run, but we will be taking action in some areas to address some of those issues in the marketplace. Lauren Lieberman: Great. And Russ, just to clarify, if I can, the low single-digit pricing statement, is that a North America number or a global number? Russell Torres: Yes, it's primarily in North America. That number, I think, globally is going to vary a lot based on the geography. So we have taken actions around the world as well. Lauren Lieberman: Okay. Nelson Urdaneta: So we've taken actions across many countries, as you might imagine, Lauren. So -- and the overall is following the principle of pricing net of cost neutral over time. But it's not just revenue growth management. Remember, we're also delivering the highest productivity we've ever delivered. We're also managing negotiations and contracts with our vendors and our suppliers. So it's the full toolkit and not just that, that's one lever. Russell Torres: And let me underscore -- I'm sorry, Mike, just to underscore that. The innovation is the key element to that, that helps create premiumization and positive mix and also helps drive growth that really, to me, is the core of that engine. Michael Hsu: Yes. And maybe related to what Russ was just talking about, Lauren, the guiding thing for us is, especially in this environment, we have to have a superior value proposition. And so -- and that's kind of the company's focus. And so even though with inflation, there are some PNOC actions we have to take, we're always going to be cognizant of making sure we're offering a great value. And I think if you look at the past couple of years, we've paid particular attention to the value consumer or the middle-income consumer. I think they've been under more stress, and we think our approach to sharpen that offering, both in terms of product quality, primarily through product quality, I think, has worked really hard for us. Operator: Your next question is coming from Robert Moskow from TD Cowen. Robert Moskow: It may be too early to ask this about 2027. But with all of the noise this year from a lot of incidents that certainly could be considered transitory, would you consider 2027 to have an easy comparison at this point? Or is it that these are volatile times? There's not a lot of visibility to that. And so don't get your hopes up. So maybe you could -- I could start with there. Michael Hsu: Yes. Well, one, I'm going to let Nelson kind of weigh in here. But Rob, I think the volatility is out there. And so I think that, that answer can vary a little bit depending on what the facts are kind of in the day. And so we're very focused on running the business for the long term. But I think the thing that you point out in your question is there is a lot of volatility in the marketplace, and we're trying to make sense of it. Nelson Urdaneta: Yes. And Rob, to Mike's point, I mean, we've been around for 154 years and counting. We've gone through a lot of these cycles in prior lives, and obviously, this has gotten a little bit more the norm in the last few years. However, the underlying strength of the business, the power of our innovation pipelines, the executional prowess of our teams is second to none. And that, I think, is what carries the day. I mean where we land in 2027, it's early to tell. As I was sharing with Chris earlier, the thing is the speed of the recovery in China is going to be one, and we factored in a significant amount for the balance of the second half, even though we're going to get back to growth in -- versus the second quarter because we're seeing the strength of the innovation pipeline and the executional plans that we've got in place. We're also managing through the inflationary impacts in the Middle East. And as you heard, as we were chatting with Lauren, we are taking very clear actions to address in a thoughtful manner because we want to make sure that we're addressing our consumer needs, and we meet them where they need us to be. So that's all being factored in. We'll come back towards the end of the year, beginning of next year with what is the view for 2027, factoring that in. But I would also like to highlight that the strength of our categories, the resiliency of our categories is there. I mean we continue to grow trailing 12 months about 2%. So that is solid, that is very solid. And we've been putting up their growth vol/mix in the last 9, 10 quarters consecutively. So the strength of the business is solid. We're very confident in our plans, and we'll just need to keep navigating the choppy waters we're in, as Mike referred to. Robert Moskow: Okay. A quick follow-up. Is it going to be very easy for you to tell whether competition is following you on these price increases, particularly in North America? And you say that you expect the promotional environment to normalize eventually or at least your promotions to normalize. Is it possible that if they don't follow that you might have to promote some of this back? Michael Hsu: Yes. I'd say, Rob, it's always possible, but that's just not -- that we're going to run our play. Our play is really bringing great innovation, helping consumers understand how our innovation uniquely solves their problems in a different better way. We're going to drive productivity on our costs, and we want to be affordable. And so I think those are all the things. And I think that's the play. Are we paying close attention to the promotion environment? For sure, right? And we recognize we're not going to put our head in the sand. But I think we're also trying to manage our approach because we've seen the other approach, and it doesn't work. Nelson Urdaneta: And the other one, Rob, is no one is immune in the mid-long term to the inflationary environment. The key is that you got to manage the entirety of the toolkit, and that's why we've been so focused on the productivity bid. And as we've been sharing, we still have in North America, a lot of room to go because we were still undertaking the $2 billion investment in the supply chain restructuring in North America that's coming on over the next few months and it will carry through in '27 and '28. So there's a lot of firepower on that end to manage. But again, we need to see how things play out over the next few quarters. Michael Hsu: Rob, you may remember, I think I talked to you back when I used to work in the snack category and their promotions do drive incremental consumption. And by the way, so if your promotions are profitable, but then that's a viable strategy, but this is not the case in these categories. It's the opposite. Operator: Your next question is coming from Peter Grom from UBS. Peter Grom: I was hoping to just get some perspective on the input cost environment. So you noted in the prepared remarks, $150 million of inflation in the back half of the year, consistent with the range you provided back in April. Obviously, it's a volatile external environment. So maybe can you help unpack what's embedded in that assumption? And as we think about the back half, is the headwind evenly weighted or more pronounced in the third quarter? Nelson Urdaneta: Yes. So let me unpack a little bit what we've got for the second half, and then also an update versus what we shared back in April. Because as you recall, we have not included the back half as part of the cost impact. So a few things. One, I do want to give a shout out to our teams. I mean they've been working very diligently to manage through the volatility that we've got, first and foremost, to ensure that we have product availability so we can serve our consumers and our customers. And then also to be able to manage through the higher costs such that we can deliver on our commitments. And a few things there. As we look at what we said back in April, we said that for the second quarter, we expected inflationary headwinds to be around $50 million for the quarter, primarily related to the higher oil-linked input costs as well as some of the impacts from the L.A. distribution center. Those impacts came through pretty much as expected and are reflected in our first half results. As we look into the second half, what we said back then was, and that's in April, that if oil prices were to remain at around $100 per barrel, we could potentially face gross incremental input cost headwinds in the back half of the year of around $150 million to $170 million, and that we have not included that nor any mitigating actions in our back half outlook. Currently, based on where oil prices are and the actions that we've started to undertake, our estimate for the second half is to be right around $150 million of gross input cost headwinds. And these impacts are now fully incorporated into our outlook. Through a combination of mitigating actions already underway and the tariff refund benefit that we got in the second quarter, we now pretty much expect fully offset these incremental costs and maintain pricing net of cost inflation at roughly neutral levels for the full year. Peter Grom: Great. And then just more of a housekeeping on kind of what's going on in China. I think it was it was a 50 basis point headwind in 2Q, the guidance assumed a 100 basis point headwind for the year. So just trying to understand how we should be thinking about the phasing in the back half? Is it just more pronounced in 3Q and then you're assuming some improvement in 4Q? And then, Russ, I think you mentioned you haven't seen any sequential deterioration, but it hasn't yet inflected. So just help us understand what you're kind of assuming in that 100 basis point headwind as well. Nelson Urdaneta: Yes. So basically, the 100 basis points that you would do is we -- for the second half, that becomes about 200 basis points. And that's more or less evenly distributed in Q3 and Q4. That's kind of the way to look at it. And then from a profit standpoint, operating profit, also, we expect roughly $70 million of headwind in the back half, again, in operating profit, roughly half and half. That translates to about $0.16 of EPS and that would be evenly split Q3, Q4. But I think, you want to add anything else for, Russ, or... Russell Torres: No, I think you said it well, I think we've assumed a modest improvement in the trend, but nothing -- no inflections at this stage because we do feel like it's prudent to be conservative given that sometimes these things can take a long time. And we've got to see a lot more unfold before we're confident in changing an outlook on that. If we could take one more question and then wrap it up. Operator: Absolutely. And our last question comes from Javier Escalante from Evercore. Javier Escalante Manzo: I have a question for Russ and one for Mike. Hopefully, the one on Russ is not an overkill, but if you can give us an update on diapers. It feels as if that these imports -- and this is U.S. diapers, imports, the ones backed by the retailers seem to be kind of peaking. So whether that is true. And also, there is any commentary on the overlap with the relaunch from -- by your main competitor in the U.S., any color, that would be great. And in tissue, we do see an improvement in July, and there is this powerful shift to club and online. So if you can comment what's driving that? And I have a question for Mike. Russell Torres: Javier, on the diaper question, I think you're right, you probably, Javier, have followed the category, and I have to know that there's been a long history of new players coming in. And then sometimes they peak and then abate. Certainly, there's a lot of those entering the marketplace right now, and that's a dynamic we're contending with. And so our focus in terms of how we deal with that is to just stay focused on executing our strategy, which I think has been very successful around the world, and that's to continue bringing innovation and focus on strong value propositions at every tier good, better, best. And I think that has been working in North America prior to the club distribution change we've talked about. We've gained share 2 years in a row despite that competition, and we do have a good innovation agenda. I think we're now #1 in social engagement in '26. We've got a lot of good actions happening on premiumization. So we're going to stay focused on that in terms of how the other things play out, I think the consumers will decide. And we're confident that if we stay focused on our play, it's been very successful around the world, and that will continue to be true in North America. On the tissue, if I understood your question correctly, I think it was really just understanding a little bit more about what's maybe driving the improvement in our business. Is that right? Javier Escalante Manzo: Correct. Russell Torres: Yes, yes. Well, I think it's -- again, it's -- I hate to be a boring and repetitive, but it's the same thing. We really took the thinking of what are our value propositions by value tier in the marketplace and really focused on sharpening the strength of our offerings and then improving our innovations. And so you've seen that in Viva, which we highlighted, I think, in the call, where that's really been working for us. That's an example where we already have a great product. We just needed to activate it and do a better job in packaging it, communicating and building the brand, and that has been very successful. I think we gained 80 basis points of share in the second quarter on that. We've got great innovation on Kleenex, which has been really performing very, very well in gaining share consistently over the last several years, and we have some new innovations on format that have insights around them with respect to consumer usage occasions. And then on the dry bath side, we've done a great job, I think, sharpening our value, which is very, very important to a large swath of consumers and have done extremely well in the good tier this year to date. And so it's all those things together, Javier, with brand building activation and innovation. And we actually have some very good things coming as well next year and the year following on tissue that we're excited about, in addition to the fiber thing. So there's a lot of good things happening there. So I'll turn it to Mike on the second part. Michael Hsu: Yes, Javier, I mean just a tag on. I know you got a question for me separately. But just -- I just want to emphasize, like the environment we understand. I mean the fact that there's more competitors entering categories in North America, I mean it's something that we're very well aware of. And I think you know we've been dealing with this for the past 10 years in China. There's 200 brands that we compete in diapers with in China. And we're very confident we have the best product in that market, which is why we became #1. And so the thing that maybe I'll just emphasize, it's -- and the playbook is right, but superior value proposition, I will tell you the anchor for our superior value proposition at K-C is differentiated product technologies. And so we feel fantastic about the innovations we've brought in personal care. I promise you the innovation that you'll see in the next 3 years on personal care would be better than the ones we've launched over the last 10 years. It's also why we're doing things in tissue like alternative natural fibers, it's going to in my mind, change the category forever. And so again, that's kind of our bet, which is like -- and this is kind of the calling card to K-C, which is we are technologists first engineers, and we invent stuff, and we're good at it. Javier Escalante Manzo: And Mike -- thank you for that, Mike. With the completion of the Suzano deal, right, talk about a little bit, I guess, better or expand on what does it mean for you operating without the international tissue business, right? What does it mean in terms of your capacity and resources to invest in international personal care and also readying the interaction of Kenvue? Michael Hsu: Yes, for sure. We're really excited about the additional focus it brings, although that notwithstanding in a few months, there'll be a broader swath of categories, we'll have to focus on as well, but we feel very good about it. I think -- and maybe one of the best things, Javier, is I think, in setting up Arbex, it wasn't like we were trying to move on from a problem or a challenge. I think the whole fundamental premise of our joint venture with Suzano to create Arbex is we're going to create a world-class global competitor in the hygiene and tissue business. And I think when you combine the scale and capabilities of what Suzano brings with our commercial capability and knowledge of tissue making, I think that's a powerful combination. And so I think there's no team within our company that was more excited than the Arbex team kind of getting started off about their future. And so we're really excited for them. Obviously, we all knew that we had this other thing, this alternative natural fiber up our sleeve as well. But again, I think part of it is we wanted to create an advantaged business on that side. And then certainly, within our house, the clear focus within personal care globally, I think, really helps us kind of drive the execution on that side. Russell Torres: Javier, just done last one, Russ again. Just on the diapers point that you made. Yes, I just wanted to underscore that we have great respect for our competitors and for the things that are happening in the marketplace. But what gives us confidence as well even beyond the United States is just how things are unfolding around the world. And that really -- and Mike just mentioned the China product performance. As we've rolled the playbook out to other markets in IPC, you can see the results coming through, notwithstanding the recent China issue we've had, we've been performing very strong in sequential improvements and double-digit gains in markets like India, Southeast Asia, Indonesia, and we're really strongly making progress kind of around the world, especially when you look at things like market share and diapers, 390 basis points up in Indonesia as well as 70 basis points up in Brazil. That playbook is working. So that gives us confidence that it's not just regional battle, but the global playbook is translating across geographies, and that is no different in North America. And so that's really what we're focused on activating against and we believe in the long run that we'll be successful with that. Christopher Jakubik: We'll end it there for today. And for analysts who have follow-up questions, the IR team will be around to take them throughout the day. So thanks very much, and have a great day. Operator: Thank you, everyone. This concludes today's event. You may disconnect at this time, and have a wonderful day. Thank you for your participation. Before you buy stock in Kimberly-Clark, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Kimberly-Clark wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. 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As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not assume any responsibility for your use of this content, and we strongly encourage you to do your own research, including listening to the call yourself and reading the company's SEC filings. Please see our Terms and Conditions for additional details, including our Obligatory Capitalized Disclaimers of Liability. The Motley Fool recommends Kenvue. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Kimberly-Clark (KMB) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript was originally published by The Motley Fool

Kimberly-Clark Corporation KMB used its second-quarter 2026 earnings call to stress that a China diaper disruption and other discrete pressures have changed the 2026 outlook, while management emphasized the underlying business remains strong. The call focused on China’s recovery, softer category growth, North American shipment volatility and KMB’s ability to offset inflation while advancing Kenvue and innovation. Senior vice president, CFO and interim principal accounting officer Nelson Urdaneta said organic sales were about 100 basis points below internal expectations, mainly due to China, North American trade inventory reductions and softer category growth. Adjusted EPS from continuing operations was $1.80, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.00. Net sales of $4.19 billion missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $4.23 billion. Kimberly-Clark Corporation price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Kimberly-Clark Corporation Quote CFO Urdaneta said 2026 organic sales growth should run about 100 basis points below weighted category growth, currently 2% on a trailing-12-month basis. Adjusted operating profit is expected to grow mid-single digits, while adjusted EPS from continuing operations is expected to grow high single digits, both on a constant-currency basis. President and COO Russell Torres said independent third-party testing found the company’s products safe, while management is working with Chinese authorities, retailers and consumers after social-media allegations hurt diaper sales.Torres said sellout trends had not deteriorated sequentially but had not turned higher. Management therefore assumed modest improvement rather than a clear inflection. Answering a UBS analyst, Urdaneta said China should create about a 200-basis-point sales headwind in the second half and roughly $70 million of operating profit pressure, split about evenly between the third and fourth quarters. A Goldman Sachs analyst pressed management on weaker North American results and the basis for a stronger second half. Urdaneta said consumer-category shipments fell 1.4% while consumption rose 0.3%. Urdaneta attributed the gap mainly to the Los Angeles distribution-center fire and retailer inventory movements. The fire reduced second-quarter sales by about $22 million, while inventory changes cut shipment growth by roughly 100 basis points year over year. Torres said KMB expects North America to grow in line with its categories in the second half, supported by innovation, activation plans, revenue-growth-management actions and easier comparisons. A Barclays analyst asked about pricing as promotions evolve. COO Torres said low-single-digit pricing actions are primarily being taken in North America to address inflation. Urdaneta said second-half gross input-cost headwinds are estimated at about $150 million. He expects mitigating actions and the second-quarter tariff refund to keep pricing net of cost inflation roughly neutral for the full year. Urdaneta also said KMB received a $45 million North American tariff refund and delivered 6.4% productivity, helping adjusted operating profit and earnings exceed internal expectations. A Deutsche Bank analyst asked whether integration work implied higher or faster Kenvue synergies. Torres said progress mainly increases confidence in achieving the existing $1.9 billion cost-synergy target, without committing to more synergies or a revised cadence. Chairman and CEO Michael Hsu said closer review has increased confidence in growth opportunities across Kenvue’s consumer-health categories. Urdaneta said a specific 2027 earnings view will wait for more clarity on China, commodities and transaction timing. Hsu highlighted Kimberly-Clark’s alternative natural-fiber program, while Urdaneta said related spending and capital needs are already reflected in strategic plans. Hsu said the company is breaking ground on a pilot facility. Hsu described the operating environment as choppy but continued to emphasize differentiated product technology, brand investment and productivity as KMB’s operating approach. Torres reinforced that stance, pointing to innovation and value propositions across price tiers rather than heavier promotion. Management remains focused on China, inflation and North American volatility while preparing for Kenvue. KMB carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), with Value and Growth Scores of C, a Momentum Score of F and a VGM Score of C. Under the Zacks A-to-F hierarchy, those grades sit below the preferred A and B range. The Zacks framework gives its strongest short-term emphasis to Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or #2 (Buy) stocks paired with A or B Style Scores. KMB does not have that combination, and its Zacks Rank can change as earnings estimates are revised following the just-reported results. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Kimberly-Clark Corporation (KMB) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Get insights on thousands of stocks from the global community of over 7 million individual investors at Simply Wall St. Kimberly-Clark (KMB) is back in focus after second quarter 2026 earnings beat profit expectations but fell short on revenue, as management flagged ongoing profit pressure from false diaper quality allegations in China and lowered its full year outlook. See our latest analysis for Kimberly-Clark. Kimberly-Clark’s share price has gained 12.48% over the past 90 days and 10.03% year to date. However, the 1-year total shareholder return declined 12.80%, suggesting recent momentum is rebuilding after a weaker stretch as investors reassess earnings risks from China and weigh progress on new fiber products and the affirmed dividend. If you are reassessing consumer staples after Kimberly-Clark’s earnings, it can help to broaden your watchlist and look at 19 top founder-led companies Kimberly-Clark now trades at a discount to both internal fair value estimates and the average analyst target after the China setback and softer outlook. Is that discount compensation for the risk, or is it a sign of excessive caution? At a last close of $111.57 versus a narrative fair value of $117.00, Kimberly-Clark is framed as modestly undervalued, with that gap linked to specific earnings and margin expectations under a 7.11% discount rate. Read the complete narrative. Curious what sits behind that margin story. The narrative leans on steady revenue growth, a sizeable step up in profitability and a future earnings multiple below today’s industry level. The full breakdown shows how those moving parts stack up to $117.00. Result: Fair Value of $117.00 (UNDERVALUED) Have a read of the narrative in full and understand what's behind the forecasts. However, Kimberly-Clark still faces meaningful risks if private label competition squeezes pricing or if weaker consumer demand limits volumes in key international markets. Find out about the key risks to this Kimberly-Clark narrative. With mixed sentiment around Kimberly-Clark after the China setback and valuation gap, it makes sense to inspect the full picture yourself and move promptly. Balance the potential upside with the earnings and competitive pressures by weighing the 2 key rewards and 2 important warning signs Do not stop with Kimberly-Clark. Use this earnings reset as a springboard to refresh your watchlist with stocks that fit your risk, income and quality preferences. Target potential upside with companies that combine quality fundamentals and attractive pricing by scanning 52 high quality undervalued stocks Strengthen your income stream by focusing on historical yield and resilience using the 7 dividend fortresses Reduce portfolio stress by concentrating on businesses that score well on balance sheet strength through the 82 resilient stocks with low risk scores This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Companies discussed in this article include KMB. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email [email protected]

Kimberly-Clark reported past second-quarter 2026 results showing sales of US$4,189 million versus US$4,163 million a year earlier, while net income fell to US$345 million from US$509 million, and also unveiled an alternative natural fiber program using the drought-resistant hesperaloe plant to support future sustainable hygiene products. An interesting angle is how Kimberly-Clark is pairing only modest sales growth and weaker quarterly earnings with a patented hesperaloe-based materials platform that could reshape its fiber sourcing and product differentiation over time. Next, we’ll explore how this hesperaloe-based innovation initiative may influence Kimberly-Clark’s existing investment narrative around margins and growth. Uncover the next big thing with 20 elite penny stocks that balance risk and reward. To stay invested in Kimberly-Clark today, you likely need to believe that its brands and innovation can support steady, margin-conscious growth even as earnings move around. The latest quarter’s modest sales increase but lower net income keeps near term margin pressure in focus as the key catalyst, while the biggest current risk remains competitive and pricing pressure in tissue and diapers. The hesperaloe program is interesting, but its near term financial impact looks limited so far. Among the latest announcements, the launch of the Alternative Natural Fiber program using hesperaloe stands out as most relevant here. It directly touches Kimberly-Clark’s dependence on continuous product innovation as a core catalyst, while also speaking to fiber supply resilience. If this platform scales effectively, it could matter for both cost structure and differentiation, but investors may still be watching how it interacts with margin trends over the next few years. Yet against that innovation story, investors should also be aware of the risk that intensifying private label and low cost imports could... Read the full narrative on Kimberly-Clark (it's free!) Kimberly-Clark's narrative projects $18.4 billion revenue and $2.7 billion earnings by 2029. This requires 3.5% yearly revenue growth and about a $1.0 billion earnings increase from $1.7 billion today. Uncover how Kimberly-Clark's forecasts yield a $117.00 fair value, a 5% upside to its current price. Some of the most optimistic analysts were assuming revenue could reach about US$21.9 billion and earnings US$2.8 billion by 2029, which is far more upbeat than the baseline view. Compared with concerns about diaper category headwinds and private label pressure, this higher bar could be challenged or reinforced by Kimberly-Clark’s hesperaloe push and recent margin trends, so it is worth weighing several possible paths before deciding what you think is realistic. Explore 7 other fair value estimates on Kimberly-Clark - why the stock might be worth 19% less than the current price! Don't just follow the ticker - dig into the data and build a conviction that's truly your own. A great starting point for your Kimberly-Clark research is our analysis highlighting 2 key rewards and 2 important warning signs that could impact your investment decision. Our free Kimberly-Clark research report provides a comprehensive fundamental analysis summarized in a single visual - the Snowflake - making it easy to evaluate Kimberly-Clark's overall financial health at a glance. Opportunities like this don't last. These are today's most promising picks. Check them out now: The future of work is here. Discover the 36 top robotics and automation stocks leading the charge in AI-driven automation and industrial transformation. Invest in the nuclear renaissance through our list of 89 elite nuclear energy infrastructure plays powering the global AI revolution. We've uncovered the 7 dividend fortresses yielding 5%+ that don't just survive market storms, but thrive in them. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Companies discussed in this article include KMB. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email [email protected]

Our analysts just identified a stock with the potential to be the next Nvidia. Tell us how you invest and we'll show you why it's our #1 pick. Tap here. Delivered a 10th consecutive quarter of positive volume plus mix growth despite moderating category growth and increased consumer pressure. Attributed second-quarter organic sales softness to a discrete diaper disruption in China and unexpected retailer inventory reductions in North American adult care. Maintained global weighted market share, with approximately 70% of the sales base holding or gaining share, demonstrating brand resilience in a choppy macro environment. Achieved industry-leading gross productivity of 6.4%, which served as a critical buffer against rising input costs and allowed for continued brand investment. Unveiled a proprietary alternative natural fiber program designed to reduce exposure to forest fiber cost volatility while enhancing product softness and land efficiency. Completed the Arbex joint venture with Suzano, sharpening the corporate focus on proprietary 'right-to-win' spaces in personal care and health and wellness. Adjusted full-year outlook to incorporate approximately $150 million in gross input cost headwinds, now fully offset by tariff refunds and productivity gains. Assumes a modest improvement in China diaper trends for the second half, though management remains cautious as consumer sentiment hasn't yet fully inflected positively. Expects North American performance to accelerate in the second half, driven by easier year-over-year comparisons and a robust innovation pipeline in tissue and personal care. Anticipates taking low-single-digit pricing actions, primarily in North America, to maintain the principle of being pricing-net-of-cost neutral over time. Remains confident in the generational value of the Kenvue acquisition, with closing expected in Q4 2026 and integration planning running ahead of initial expectations. Recorded a $45 million tariff refund in the second quarter, representing roughly half of the total retaliatory tariffs paid in North America. Managed through operational disruptions including a fire at the Los Angeles distribution center and incremental logistics costs stemming from the Middle East crisis. Addressed safety claims regarding China diapers by conducting independent third-party lab tests that confirmed products are safe and non-detect for contaminants. Identified weakening sentiment among lower-income consumers as a headwind, leading to greater variability in consumption patterns across essential categories. Management noted there is no scientific evidence for the claims and is cooperating with authorities while investing in transparent consumer communication. The outlook assumes no sequential deterioration, but management is realistic that rebuilding consumer trust will take time despite strong product safety data. One stock. Nvidia-level potential. 30M+ investors trust Moby to find it first. Get the pick. Tap here. Shipments lagged consumption by 170 basis points in Q2, driven by the L.A. distribution center fire and specific retailer destocking in the adult care category. Management expects these factors to normalize in the second half, supported by strong e-commerce performance and new innovation scaling. The alternative fiber is a 'water miser' farm crop that grows in arid conditions, offering superior softness-to-strength ratios compared to traditional wood pulp. Strategically, the platform is intended to enhance margins and reduce the company's vulnerability to global pulp price volatility. Management acknowledged a slight uptick in competitive promotion but emphasized they will not follow 'excessive' promotion that does not grow the category. Confirmed that low-single-digit list price increases are being implemented in North America to address specific commodity-driven inflationary pressures. Integration teams have identified 'shovel-ready' actions, increasing confidence in the $1.9 billion synergy target, though specific cadence updates await the deal close. Management highlighted that Kenvue's categories have a significant 'gap to incidence,' providing a larger growth runway than originally anticipated through category building.

This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Volume Plus Mix: Delivered 10th consecutive quarter of solid volume plus mix performance. Market Share: Held global weighted share during the quarter. Gross Productivity: Posted another quarter of industry-leading gross productivity. Release Date: August 04, 2026 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. Delivered 10th consecutive quarter of solid volume plus mix growth and held global weighted share. Achieved industry-leading gross productivity of 6.4% in Q2, driving strong operating profit and EPS ahead of expectations. Received a $45 million tariff refund in Q2, which helped offset incremental costs and support bottom-line performance. Unveiled a proprietary alternative natural fiber innovation program with potential to enhance product performance, reduce cost volatility, and advance sustainability goals. Completed the successful launch of Arbex, a strategic joint venture with Suzano, and made strong progress on Kenvue integration planning, with synergy execution running ahead of expectations. Organic sales in Q2 came in about 100 basis points below expectations, driven by China diaper disruption and trade inventory reductions in North America. China diaper business faced a significant disruption due to unsubstantiated claims, with no sequential deterioration but no positive inflection yet, creating uncertainty for the balance of the year. North America consumer shipments lagged consumption by 170 basis points, impacted by the L.A. distribution center fire and retailer inventory movements, including an unanticipated channel-specific reduction in adult care. Category growth moderated to about 2% trailing 12 months, with consumers under increased pressure and greater variability in consumption, especially among lower-income segments. Expects $150 million of gross input cost headwinds in the second half of 2026, primarily due to higher oil-linked costs, which will require mitigating actions to offset. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 2 Warning Sign with KMB. Is KMB fairly valued? Test your thesis with our free DCF calculator. Q: Can you unpack what exactly is going on in China in terms of how this all started and what the path forward is?A: Russell Torres (President, COO) stated that the company is confident in its products, which are high-quality, safe, and perform well. There is no scientific evidence backing the claims, and multiple independent tests by certified third-party labs confirmed the products are safe. The team is cooperating with Chinese authorities and investing aggressively in reinforcing product facts with transparency. While there is no sequential deterioration in sellout, it hasn't inflected positively yet, and the company remains cautiously optimistic but realistic that recovery will take time. Michael Hsu (CEO) added that brand foundations globally remain strong, with the 10th consecutive quarter of positive volume plus mix growth and holding overall weighted share. Q: It was a really noisy quarter. Can you give us some perspective on how you performed relative to your internal expectations?A: Nelson Urdaneta (CFO) explained that Q2 organic growth came in about 100 basis points below expectations, driven by the China diaper disruption, trade inventory reduction in North America (concentrated in adult care), and softer category growth. However, adjusted operating profit and EPS came in ahead of expectations due to a tariff refund and solid productivity of 6.4%. Michael Hsu (CEO) noted that while the environment is choppy, categories remain resilient, though consumers are under increased pressure, with weighted growth in North America moderating from 3.7% to 1.9% sequentially. Q: What was the tariff refund in the quarter, and do you expect any more? How does this factor into full-year guidance?A: Nelson Urdaneta (CFO) confirmed the tariff refund received in the US was $45 million, representing roughly half of what the company paid in North America as a whole, including retaliatory tariffs in Canada. This is reflected in Q2 results and the updated outlook. For the balance of the year, no material additional refunds are factored in, and the company continues to monitor the policy environment. Q: Do you continue to view the 2027 construct as tangible or firm as you had laid out before, given the backdrop and Kenvue expectations?A: Nelson Urdaneta (CFO) stated that the company remains very confident in its ability to create generational value through the Kenvue acquisition. The factors driving the lower stand-alone '26 earnings outlook do not materially change the underlying earnings potential of either business. However, it's early to provide a specific view on '27 due to moving pieces like the China recovery, commodities, and the Middle East crisis. The company will provide an update on 2027 as it gets closer to the transaction close. Q: Can you unpack the drivers of the North America softness, including consumption trends versus retailer destocking? And what gives you confidence in a stronger 2H?A: Nelson Urdaneta (CFO) explained that shipments in North America consumer categories lagged consumption by about 170 basis points, with shipments down 1.4% versus consumption growth of 0.3%. This was driven by the LA distribution center fire (an $22 million headwind) and retailer inventory movements impacting shipments by roughly 100 basis points. Russell Torres (President, COO) added confidence in the second half, citing strong innovation pipelines, brand investments, and easier comparisons, with the outlook to grow in line with categories. Q: How is the innovation pipeline running against expectations, and how quickly could the new fiber platform drive new end products? What upfront costs should we keep in mind?A: Michael Hsu (CEO) expressed excitement about the alternative natural fiber program, calling it a potential "next great material platform" with benefits for consumers (superior softness), the planet (land-efficient, water-miser farm crop), and economics (enhanced margins, reduced volatility). Nelson Urdaneta (CFO) noted that investments have been factored into the investment profile for years, with capital requirements included in strategic plans. The company is breaking ground on a pilot facility and has acquired thousands of acres of land. Q: How have competitive and promotional conditions evolved in North America over the past 6 months, and how do they play out over the balance of the year?A: Michael Hsu (CEO) noted that the promotional environment is increasing slightly from both big branded competitors and smaller brands, but these categories have stable consumption that doesn't change due to promotion. Russell Torres (President, COO) added that in '25, promo activity was below pre-COVID levels, and through the first half of '26, promotional levels were down versus prior year. The company increased promotional support in some categories, especially diapers, to drive trial on innovation launches and transition from the club distribution change, expecting this to normalize over the balance of the year. Q: Should we interpret the Kenvue synergy planning running ahead of expectations as greater confidence in the existing $1.9 billion cost synergy target, or are you identifying incremental synergies?A: Russell Torres (President, COO) said it reflects greater confidence in the path to achieve the outlined synergies, with a bottom-up pipeline based on specific initiatives and 50 teams and 600 people working on it. It's early to see how it shakes out over 3 years. Michael Hsu (CEO) added that while not signing up for more synergies, the closer look reveals more growth in these categories than originally thought, particularly on the Kenvue side, due to the gap between health issue incidence and treatment. Q: Can you clarify the pricing and promotional environment in the US, and how much of the lower price is less promotional activity versus real list price increases?A: Russell Torres (President, COO) explained that the company has had temporary promotions and targeted revenue growth management actions to address consumer-driven opportunities. Channel mix shifts to value channels like online and club impacted pricing, with total company pricing down 50 bps in the first half. The company will be taking pricing actions to cover inflation in the second half, with a magnitude of low single digits overall, primarily in North America. Nelson Urdaneta (CFO) emphasized the full toolkit approach, including productivity and vendor negotiations, to maintain pricing net of cost neutrality. Q: With all the noise this year, would you consider 2027 to have an easy comparison, or is there not much visibility?A: Nelson Urdaneta (CFO) stated it's early to tell where 2027 lands, with the speed of China's recovery being a key factor. The For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.

Household products company Kimberly-Clark (NASDAQ:KMB) missed Wall Street’s revenue expectations in Q2 CY2026, with sales flat year on year at $4.19 billion. Its non-GAAP profit of $2.12 per share was 5.7% above analysts’ consensus estimates. Is now the time to buy Kimberly-Clark? Find out in our full research report. Revenue: $4.19 billion vs analyst estimates of $4.22 billion (flat year on year, 0.8% miss) Adjusted EPS: $2.12 vs analyst estimates of $2.01 (5.7% beat) Operating Margin: 15.1%, in line with the same quarter last year Free Cash Flow Margin: 13.3%, similar to the same quarter last year Organic Revenue was flat year on year (miss) Market Capitalization: $35.7 billion "Our achievements in the first half of the year show that Kimberly-Clark's durable operating model is enabling us to accelerate our transformation while sustaining the momentum of our brands and businesses," said Kimberly-Clark Chairman and CEO Mike Hsu. Originally founded as a Wisconsin paper mill in 1872, Kimberly-Clark (NASDAQ:KMB) is now a household products powerhouse known for personal care and tissue products. A company’s long-term sales performance is one signal of its overall quality. Any business can have short-term success, but a top-tier one grows for years. With $16.58 billion in revenue over the past 12 months, Kimberly-Clark is one of the larger consumer staples companies and benefits from a well-known brand that influences purchasing decisions. However, its scale is a double-edged sword because there are only so many big store chains to sell into, making it harder to find incremental growth. To accelerate sales, Kimberly-Clark likely needs to optimize its pricing or lean into new products and international expansion. As you can see below, Kimberly-Clark’s demand was weak over the last three years. Its sales fell by 6.6% annually, a rough starting point for our analysis. This quarter, Kimberly-Clark’s $4.19 billion of revenue was flat year on year, falling short of Wall Street’s estimates. Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 2.9% over the next 12 months. While this projection suggests its newer products will spur better top-line performance, it is still below the sector average. WHILE YOU’RE HERE: The Next Palantir? One satellite company captures images of every point on Earth. Every single day. The Pentagon wants it. Hedge funds are using it to beat earnings. You’ve probably never heard of it. This is what the early days of Palantir looked like before it became a giant. Same playbook. Different technology. If you missed Palantir, you need to see this. Claim The Stock Ticker for Free HERE. When analyzing revenue growth, we care most about organic revenue growth. This metric captures a business’s performance excluding one-time events such as mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures as well as foreign currency fluctuations. The demand for Kimberly-Clark’s products has been stable over the last eight quarters but fell behind the broader sector. On average, the company has posted feeble year-on-year organic revenue growth of 1.6%. In the latest quarter, Kimberly-Clark’s year on year organic sales were flat. This was a meaningful deceleration from its historical levels. We’ll be watching closely to see if Kimberly-Clark can reaccelerate growth. It was encouraging to see Kimberly-Clark beat analysts’ gross margin expectations this quarter. We were also glad its EPS outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. On the other hand, its organic revenue slightly missed and its revenue fell slightly short of Wall Street’s estimates. Overall, this quarter could have been better. The stock remained flat at $106.80 immediately following the results. Kimberly-Clark’s earnings report left more to be desired. Let’s look forward to see if this quarter has created an opportunity to buy the stock. If you’re making that decision, you should consider the bigger picture of valuation, business qualities, as well as the latest earnings. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here, it’s free.

Kimberly-Clark Corporation KMB posted second-quarter 2026 results, with top line increasing year over year. However, net sales missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Adjusted earnings attributable to Kimberly-Clark were $2.12 per share, up 10.4% year over year, driven by higher adjusted operating profit and income from discontinued operations. Adjusted earnings from continuing operations increased 10.4% year over year to $1.80. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the metric was pinned at $2.00 per share. Kimberly-Clark Corporation price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Kimberly-Clark Corporation Quote Kimberly-Clark’s sales were $4,189 million, marking 0.6% growth from $4,163 million in the prior-year quarter. However, the figure missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $4,232 million. Reported sales benefited from a 1.1% favorable currency impact. However, this was partly offset by a drag from divestitures and business exits, including the exit of the company’s U.S. private-label diaper business.Organic sales slipped 0.1%, including an approximately 50-basis-point drag from a social media disruption affecting the company’s diaper business in China.The adjusted gross margin expanded 190 basis points year over year to 38.8%. One-time tariff refunds and strong productivity savings more than offset product-trial investments and supply-chain-related spending.Adjusted operating profit rose 6.2% to $757 million. The improvement reflected higher adjusted gross profit and favorable currency movements. These gains were partly offset by a roughly 210-basis-point headwind from business exits and the China disruption. North America (“NA”) segment’s net sales declined 1.2% year over year to $2,698 million. Organic sales fell 0.7%, mainly due to an approximately 180-basis-point headwind from retail inventory changes and the Los Angeles Distribution Center fire.NA’s operating profit increased 10.7% to $725 million. Tariff refunds and productivity gains more than offset business-exit pressures and increased brand investments.The International Personal Care (“IPC”) segment’s net sales advanced 4% to $1,491 million, supported by a 3.1% currency benefit and 1% organic growth. Volume and mix increased a combined 1.2%, despite a roughly 140-basis-point sales headwind from the China social media disruption.IPC’s operating profit grew 2.2% to $186 million. Productivity savings and currency benefits outweighed a roughly 440-basis-point profit headwind from the China social media disruption. The company ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $956 million, long-term debt of $6,474 million and total stockholders’ equity of $1,874 million.For the six months ended June 30, 2026, cash provided by operations was $1,653 million. Management incurred capital spending of $776 million in the same time frame. The company returned $843 million to its shareholders via dividends. Kimberly-Clark expects 2026 organic sales growth to trail the weighted average growth of the categories and countries it competes in by approximately 100 basis points. Those categories and markets were growing about 2% on a trailing 12-month basis.The revised sales view primarily reflects realized and potential companywide impacts of about 100 basis points from the China social media disruption. Management expects the issue to continue affecting sales and profits in the near term.Adjusted operating profit is projected to grow at a mid-single-digit rate on a constant-currency basis. Adjusted EPS from continuing operations is expected to increase at a high-single-digit rate, including an approximately 30% rise in income from equity companies. Adjusted EPS attributable to Kimberly-Clark is forecasted to decline at a low-single-digit rate on a constant-currency basis.This Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company has gained 10.7% in the past three months compared with the industry’s 3.7% growth. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Darling Ingredients Inc. DAR develops, produces and sells sustainable natural ingredients from edible and inedible bio-nutrients in North America, Europe, China, South America and internationally. At present, Darling Ingredients sports a Zacks Rank of 1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. The consensus estimate for Darling Ingredients’ current fiscal-year sales and earnings implies growth of 13.2% and 685.3%, respectively, from the year-ago figures. DAR delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 38.9%, on average.The Chefs' Warehouse, Inc. CHEF distributes specialty food and center-of-the-plate products in the United States, the Middle East and Canada. At present, CHEF holds a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Chefs' Warehouse delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 30.4%, on average.The consensus estimate for Chefs' Warehouse’s current fiscal-year sales and earnings implies growth of 10.8% and 24.7%, respectively, from the year-ago reported figures. US Foods Holding Corp. USFD engages in the marketing, sale and distribution of fresh, frozen and dry food and non-food products to foodservice customers in the United States. USFD currently carries a Zacks Rank #2. US Foods Holding delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 1.4%, on average.The Zacks Consensus Estimate for US Foods Holding’s current fiscal-year sales and earnings implies growth of 5.1% and 16.3%, respectively, from the year-ago figures. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Kimberly-Clark Corporation (KMB) : Free Stock Analysis Report Darling Ingredients Inc. (DAR) : Free Stock Analysis Report The Chefs' Warehouse, Inc. (CHEF) : Free Stock Analysis Report US Foods Holding Corp. (USFD) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Kimberly-Clark (KMB) reported $4.19 billion in revenue for the quarter ended June 2026, representing a year-over-year increase of 0.6%. EPS of $1.80 for the same period compares to $1.92 a year ago. The reported revenue compares to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $4.23 billion, representing a surprise of -1.02%. The company delivered an EPS surprise of -10%, with the consensus EPS estimate being $2.00. While investors closely watch year-over-year changes in headline numbers -- revenue and earnings -- and how they compare to Wall Street expectations to determine their next course of action, some key metrics always provide a better insight into a company's underlying performance. As these metrics influence top- and bottom-line performance, comparing them to the year-ago numbers and what analysts estimated helps investors project a stock's price performance more accurately. Here is how Kimberly-Clark performed in the just reported quarter in terms of the metrics most widely monitored and projected by Wall Street analysts: Net Sales - North America (NA) - Volume impact - YoY change: -0.3% compared to the -0.4% average estimate based on two analysts. Net Sales - North America (NA) - Net Price impact - YoY change: -0.7% versus -0.1% estimated by two analysts on average. Net Sales - North America (NA) - Mix/Other impact - YoY change: 0.2% compared to the 0.3% average estimate based on two analysts. Net Sales - North America (NA) - Currency Translation - YoY change: 0.1% versus the two-analyst average estimate of 0.1%. Net Sales - North America (NA) - Organic - YoY change: -0.7% versus -0.2% estimated by two analysts on average. Net Sales - International Personal Care (IPC) - Volume impact - YoY change: 0.3% versus the two-analyst average estimate of 1.3%. Net Sales - Consolidated - Organic - YoY change: -0.1% compared to the 0.6% average estimate based on two analysts. Net Sales - International Personal Care (IPC) - Currency Translation - YoY change: 3.1% versus the two-analyst average estimate of 1.7%. Net Sales - International Personal Care (IPC) - Organic - YoY change: 1% versus the two-analyst average estimate of 2%. Net Sales - Consolidated - Currency Translation - YoY change: 1.1% versus the two-analyst average estimate of 0.6%. Net Sales- International Personal Care (IPC): $1.49 billion compared to the $1.49 billion average estimate based on two analysts. The reported number represents a change of +4.1% year over year. Net Sales- North America (NA): $2.7 billion compared to the $2.72 billion average estimate based on two analysts. The reported number represents a change of -1.2% year over year. View all Key Company Metrics for Kimberly-Clark here>>> Shares of Kimberly-Clark have returned -4.8% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +1.7% change. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), indicating that it could perform in line with the broader market in the near term. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Kimberly-Clark Corporation (KMB) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research