Tag Archives: Kimberly Clark

Kimberly-Clark Posts Higher Profit on Strong Int'l Growth

By Reuters

Filed under: , , , ,

Jeff Chiu/AP

Kimberly-Clark posted a bigger-than-expected jump in first-quarter earnings and raised its forecast for the year Friday as the maker of Kleenex tissues and Huggies diapers saw strong growth in its international markets and cut costs.

The company, which competes against larger rival Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) in categories such as diapers and paper products, said it cut $85 million in costs during the quarter.

Shares of the company rose 2.6 percent to $104 in trading before the market opened.

Excluding items such as restructuring costs, Kimberly-Clark earned $1.48 a share, well ahead of an average forecast by analysts of $1.34, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Net income rose to $531 million, or $1.36 a share, from $468 million, or $1.18 a share, a year earlier.

Sales rose 1.5 percent to $5.32 billion, topping analysts’ forecast of $5.28 billion.

Sponsored Linksadsonar_placementId=1505951;adsonar_pid=1990767;adsonar_ps=-1;adsonar_zw=242;adsonar_zh=252;adsonar_jv=’ads.tw.adsonar.com’;

In personal care, the company’s largest segment with products such as Huggies diapers, North American sales were flat as a 1 percent price increase offset lower sales volumes. Sales of these products rose 4 percent in international markets, helped by a 2 percent price increase and growth in countries such as China, Russia and South Korea.

Kimberly-Clark Corp. (KMB) said it expected to post 2013 earnings a share of $5.60 to $5.75, excluding items, versus its prior target of $5.50 to $5.65. The analysts’ average forecast is $5.59.

While the company has been cutting some expenses, materials and distribution costs rose in the quarter. Input costs were up $35 million from a year earlier, with increases of $15 million for fiber, $10 million for other raw materials and $10 million for distribution, it said.


Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/19/kimberly-clark-earnings/

Kimberly-Clark Buys Life-Tech Anesthesia Business

By Rich Smith, The Motley Fool

Filed under:

Probably best-known for its Huggies diapers and Kleenex tissues, Kimberly-Clark is donning surgical scrubs and heading into the hospital this morning, with an announcement that it’s just bought the anesthesia business of privately held Life-Tech.

Like Kimberly-Clark, Life-Tech is a Texas-based company. The acquired portion of the Life-Tech business manufactures needles, catheters, and accessories associated with peripheral nerve block procedures, and historically, Kimberly-Clark has acted as a distributor of the company’s products. Now, Kimberly-Clark is bringing the business in-house, and incorporating it into the Kimberly-Clark Health Care division, which accounts for about 7% of Kimberly-Clark’s total revenues.

“The Life-Tech assets will allow [Kimberly-Clark Health Care’s] ON-Q to capitalize on its leading position in the pain pump market and enhance margins on these products through internal manufacturing,” the company said.

Financial details of the acquisition are not being disclosed — neither the cost of the Life-Tech business, nor its anticipated effect on K-C’s profits or revenues. Investors sent Kimberly-Clark shares up 1.7% to about $99.63 in early trading.

link

The article Kimberly-Clark Buys Life-Tech Anesthesia Business originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Rich Smith has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Kimberly-Clark. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

(function(c,a){window.mixpanel=a;var b,d,h,e;b=c.createElement(“script”);
b.type=”text/javascript”;b.async=!0;b.src=(“https:”===c.location.protocol?”https:”:”http:”)+
‘//cdn.mxpnl.com/libs/mixpanel-2.2.min.js’;d=c.getElementsByTagName(“script”)[0];
d.parentNode.insertBefore(b,d);a._i=[];a.init=function(b,c,f){function d(a,b){
var c=b.split(“.”);2==c.length&&(a=a[c[0]],b=c[1]);a[b]=function(){a.push([b].concat(
Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments,0)))}}var g=a;”undefined”!==typeof f?g=a[f]=[]:
f=”mixpanel”;g.people=g.people||[];h=[‘disable’,’track’,’track_pageview’,’track_links’,
‘track_forms’,’register’,’register_once’,’unregister’,’identify’,’alias’,’name_tag’,
‘set_config’,’people.set’,’people.increment’];for(e=0;e<h.length;e++)d(g,h[e]);
a._i.push([b,c,f])};a.__SV=1.2;})(document,window.mixpanel||[]);
mixpanel.init("9659875b92ba8fa639ba476aedbb73b9");

function addEvent(obj, evType, fn, useCapture){
if (obj.addEventListener){
obj.addEventListener(evType, fn, useCapture);
return true;
} else if (obj.attachEvent){
var r = obj.attachEvent("on"+evType, fn);
return r;
}
}

addEvent(window, "load", function(){new FoolVisualSciences();})
addEvent(window, "load", function(){new PickAd();})

var themeName = 'dailyfinance.com';
var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-24928199-1']);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);

(function () {

var ga = document.createElement('script');
ga.type = 'text/javascript';
ga.async = true;
ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';

var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
})();

Read | <a target=_blank …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Will Kimberly-Clark Help You Retire Rich?

By Dan Caplinger, The Motley Fool

Filed under:

Now more than ever, a comfortable retirement depends on secure, stable investments. Unfortunately, the right stocks for retirement won’t just fall into your lap. As part of an ongoing series, I’m looking today at 10 measures to show whether Kimberly-Clark makes a great retirement-oriented stock.

Consumer-products companies have always made solid choices for retirement portfolios, and Kimberly-Clark has stood out from its competition lately because of its consistent growth and smart decisions, even in a fairly tough environment of high raw-materials costs. But with shares getting pricey, is Kimberly-Clark still a good pick for a retirement portfolio? Below, we’ll revisit how Kimberly-Clark does on our 10-point scale.

The right stocks for retirees
With decades to go before you need to tap your investments, you can take greater risks, weighing the chance of big losses against the potential for mind-blowing returns. But, as retirement approaches, you no longer have the luxury of waiting out a downturn.

Sure, you still want good returns, but you also need to manage your risk and protect yourself against bear markets, which can maul your finances at the worst possible time. The right stocks combine both of these elements in a single investment.

When scrutinizing a stock, retirees should look for:

  • Size. Most retirees would rather not take a flyer on unproven businesses. Bigger companies may lack their smaller counterparts’ growth potential, but they do offer greater security.
  • Consistency. While many investors look for fast-growing companies, conservative investors want to see steady, consistent gains in revenue, free cash flow, and other key metrics. Slow growth won’t make headlines, but it will help prevent the kind of ugly surprises that suddenly torpedo a stock‘s share price.
  • Stock stability. Conservative retirement investors prefer investments that move less dramatically than typical stocks, and they particularly want to avoid big losses. These investments will give up some gains during bull markets, but they won’t fall as far or as fast during bear markets. Beta measures volatility, but we also want a track record of solid performance, as well.
  • Valuation. No one can afford to pay too much for a stock, even if its prospects are good. Using normalized earnings multiples helps smooth out one-time effects, giving you a longer-term context.
  • Dividends. Most of all, retirees look for stocks that can provide income through dividends. Retirees want healthy payouts now, and consistent dividend growth over time — as long as it doesn’t jeopardize the company’s financial health.

With those factors in mind, let’s take a closer look at Kimberly-Clark.

<td valign="top" …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Factor

What We Want to See

Actual

Pass or Fail?

Size

Market cap > $10 billion

$36.6 billion

Pass

Consistency

Revenue growth > 0% in at least four of five past years

4 years

Pass

 

Free cash flow growth > 0% in at least four of past five years

3 years

Fail

Stock stability

Beta < 0.9

0.31

Pass