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Kimberly-Clark (KMB) to Post Q1 Earnings: What's in Store?

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Kimberly Clark Corporation (KMB - Free Report) is set to report first-quarter 2017 results before the opening bell on Apr 24. The question lingering in investors’ minds is, whether this consumer products giant will be able to post a positive earnings surprise in the to-be-reported quarter. The company’s earnings exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters, with an average beat of 1.4%.

A glimpse of Kimberly-Clark’s stock performance shows that its shares have been outperforming the Zacks categorized Consumer Products-Miscellaneous Staples industry and the broader Consumer Staples sector since past six months. The stock rallied 12.4% in comparison to the above mentioned industry’s growth of 4.0% and sector’s growth of 3.4%. Notably, the industry is part of the top 9% of the Zacks Classified industries (24 out of the 256).

Let us see how things are shaping up for this announcement.

Which Way are Estimates Treading?

Let’s look at the estimate revisions in order to get a clear picture of what analysts are thinking about the company right before earnings release. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for first-quarter and 2017 has been stable over the last 30 days. However, the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.54 per share for the first quarter reflects a year-over-year increase of 0.5%. Further, analysts polled by Zacks expect revenues of $4.51 billion for the said quarter, up 0.7% from the year-ago period.

What Does the Zacks Model Unveil?

Our proven model does not conclusively show that Kimberly-Clarkis likely to beat earnings estimates this quarter. This is because a stock needs to have both a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) and a positive Earnings ESP for this to happen. You may uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Kimberly-Clark has an Earnings ESP of -1.30% as the Most Accurate estimate of $1.52 is lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate, which is pegged at $1.54. Although the company’s Zacks Rank #3 increases the predictive power of ESP, we need a positive Earnings ESP in order to be confident about an earnings surprise.

Factors Influencing the Quarter

Kimberly-Clark has been performing well since the company reported impressive results in fourth-quarter 2016. We believe the company’s higher cost savings, continued product innovation, strong international presence will drive growth in the long-term. However, Kimberly-Clark continues to expect currency trends to impact profitability and margins in the near term. Moreover, the company provided weak sales forecast for 2017. Nevertheless, the company has a solid share buyback plan in place to return value to its shareholders.

However, we cannot ignore the fact that Kimberly-Clark has been witnessing slower organic sales growth, especially in developing and emerging markets, over the past few quarters. In the fourth quarter, organic sales increased 4% in developing and emerging markets, but growth is decelerating from the preceding quarters, probably due to lower volumes in Latin America, particularly in Brazil and Argentina and highly competitive promotional activity and an even more difficult economic environment.

Though the company has strong long-term growth prospects in developing and emerging markets, the current promotional environment is weakening the current market dynamics. In fact, the company expects only modest improvement in the overall environment in developing and emerging markets in 2017, particularly in the second half of 2017.

Kimberly-Clark Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

 

Kimberly-Clark Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | Kimberly-Clark Corporation Quote

Stocks to Consider

Here are some companies in the Consumer Staple sector you may want to consider as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat:

Pinnacle Foods Inc. has an Earnings ESP of +2.17% and a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Treehouse Foods, Inc. (THS - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +4.62% and a Zacks Rank #2.

Newell Brands, Inc. (NWL - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +13.79% and a Zacks Rank #2.

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