Kimberly-Clark Raises Annual Profit Forecast for Third Time Following Successful Price Hikes

Despite a slight fall in volume, increased product prices and easing cost pressures enable Kimberly-Clark to exceed Wall Street expectations, with a quarterly profit of $587 million and a 5% overall price rise.

• Kimberly-Clark, the maker of Kleenex tissues and Huggies diapers, increased its annual profit forecast for the third time this year due to higher product prices and robust demand for personal care items.
• The company's gross margins rose by 530 basis points to 35.8% in Q3, aided by reduced cost pressures and a successful strategy of raising prices to counter supply chain disruptions and elevated raw material and labor costs.
• Despite volumes falling by 1%, Kimberley-Clark recorded an overall price increase of 5% in the third quarter, signifying customers' resilience to price rises despite tight household budgets, particularly in North America.
• The company forecasts a rise of 15% to 17% in annual adjusted earnings per share, a significant increase from the previous growth expectations of 10% to 14%.
• Kimberly-Clark also increased its organic sales forecast range from 4% to 5% growth, up from the earlier target range of 3% to 5%, even though Q3 net sales of $5.13 billion slightly missed analysts' average expectation of $5.15 billion.

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