Kimberly-Clark Reports Q3 2017 Results And Confirms Previous Guidance

Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NYSE: KMB) today reported third quarter 2017 results and confirmed its previous guidance for full-year 2017 net sales and earnings per share. With brands such as Kleenex, Scott, Huggies, Pull-Ups, Kotex and Depends, Kimberly-Clark holds No. 1 or No. 2 share positions in 80 of the 175+ countries their products are sold in.

Third Quarter 2017 Operating Results

Sales: UP 1% to $4.6 billion compared to the year-ago period.

Personal Care Segment: DOWN 1%
Consumer Tissue Segment: UP 3%
K-C Professional (KCP) Segment: UP 3%

Operating profit: UP to 2% to $854 million which included

benefits from volume growth,
$125 million of cost savings from the company’s FORCE (Focused On Reducing Costs Everywhere) program
reduced marketing, research and general spending,
lower net selling prices
and $115 million of higher input costs, driven by increases in pulp and other raw materials.

Share Repurchases

Third quarter 2017 share repurchases were 1.6 million shares at a cost of $200 million. Total debt was $7.6 billion at September 30, 2017 and at the end of 2016.

2017 Guidance

The company continues to expect that:

full-year 2017 net sales and organic sales will be similar, or up slightly, year-on-year and

full-year 2017 earnings per share will be at the low end of its target range of $6.20 to $6.35.

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Thomas J. Falk said:

“We delivered bottom-line growth in the third quarter in a challenging environment. We also achieved $125 million of cost savings and reduced discretionary spending to help offset inflationary cost headwinds. In addition, we returned more than $500 million to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases.

We are confirming our previous full-year 2017 outlook and we continue to execute our Global Business Plan strategies for long-term success.”