Kimberly-Clark Corporation · KMB · FY2024 Q3 · Calendar Q4 2024
KMB Q3: Productivity gains offset inventory and channel pressure
The quarter provides evidence for a productivity- and demand-supported earnings case: innovation, premiumization, market-share gains and cost savings were constructive. The evidence is not one-sided, as inventory destocking, channel softness, private-label exits and higher advertising investment remain offsets.
Earnings scorecard
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Transcript intelligence
What changed
Relative to the prior quarter, Q3 added evidence of $130 million in gross productivity savings, a successful North America S/4 HANA rollout and a planned reduction in private-label mix. Inventory destocking remained a sales headwind, while gross margin was approximately 37% and management continued to describe a path toward 40% by 2030.
Guidance delta
Guidance sentiment remained maintained versus the prior quarter; management expects stronger Q4 top-line growth with modest margin pressure from higher advertising spend.
Key takeaways
- Inventory destocking created an approximately 80-basis-point sales drag, which management expects to normalize.
- Powering Care productivity savings reached $130 million in Q3.
- Private-label exits are intended to reduce the sales mix to about 2% by next year.
- Gross margin was approximately 37%, with management pointing to a path toward a 40% target by 2030.
- Innovation and premiumization are supporting market-share gains, particularly in the United States.
Management priorities
- Continue the Powering Care transformation and its $3 billion productivity target.
- Increase Q4 advertising spending by at least 60 basis points.
- Further exit private-label businesses and reduce their mix to approximately 2% next year.
- Explore strategic options for international tissue and professional businesses.
- Use S/4 HANA to improve forecasting and volatility management.
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Analyst 52W Price Targets
Latest persisted target per named analyst; persisted current price from FN2's market snapshot as of Oct 18, 2026. Not an FN2 forecast.
Firm-level rating actions
FMP grade actions identify the grading firm, not a named analyst.
| Firm | Rating | Prior rating | Action | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BNP Paribas | Neutral | Neutral | Maintain | Oct 16, 2026 |
| TD Cowen | Hold | Hold | Maintain | Oct 13, 2026 |
| Wells Fargo | Equal Weight | Equal Weight | Maintain | Oct 5, 2026 |
| B of A Securities | Buy | Buy | Maintain | Sep 25, 2026 |
| Piper Sandler | Overweight | Overweight | Maintain | Sep 11, 2026 |
| UBS | Neutral | Neutral | Maintain | Aug 5, 2026 |
| Barclays | Equal Weight | Equal Weight | Maintain | Jul 21, 2026 |
| Deutsche Bank | Hold | Hold | Maintain | Mar 30, 2026 |
| Citigroup | Sell | Sell | Maintain | Jan 14, 2026 |
| BNP Paribas Exane | Neutral | Neutral | Maintain | Dec 1, 2025 |
| Argus Research | Buy | Hold | Upgrade | Nov 13, 2025 |
| Morgan Stanley | Equal Weight | Equal Weight | Maintain | Nov 4, 2025 |
| Evercore ISI Group | In Line | Outperform | Downgrade | Nov 4, 2025 |
| JP Morgan | Neutral | Neutral | Maintain | Oct 31, 2025 |
| RBC Capital | Outperform | Outperform | Maintain | Apr 23, 2025 |
| HSBC | Hold | Hold | Maintain | Apr 24, 2024 |
| Goldman Sachs | Buy | Buy | Maintain | Apr 24, 2024 |
| Bernstein | Market Perform | Underperform | Upgrade | Oct 12, 2023 |
| Berenberg | Hold | Hold | Maintain | Apr 26, 2023 |
| Jefferies | Hold | Buy | Downgrade | Jan 4, 2023 |
| Bank of America | Buy | Neutral | Upgrade | Sep 27, 2019 |
| Atlantic Equities | Neutral | Underweight | Upgrade | Jul 24, 2019 |
| Macquarie | Outperform | Neutral | Upgrade | Apr 23, 2019 |
| Societe Generale | Hold | Buy | Downgrade | Aug 15, 2018 |
| B. Riley FBR | Neutral | Neutral | Maintain | May 5, 2018 |
| Argus | Buy | Hold | Upgrade | May 5, 2018 |
| CLSA | Underperform | Outperform | Downgrade | Oct 26, 2016 |
| B. Riley Securities | Neutral | Neutral | Maintain | Jan 26, 2016 |
| B. Riley | Neutral | Neutral | Maintain | Jan 26, 2016 |
| BMO Capital | Outperform | Market Perform | Upgrade | Dec 23, 2014 |
| Credit Suisse | Underperform | Underperform | Maintain | Apr 22, 2013 |
| Bank oferica | Buy | Buy | Maintain | Apr 23, 2012 |
Named analyst price targets
Upside is calculated against the persisted current price $105.57. FMP does not supply a rating on these named-analyst rows.
| Firm | Analyst | 52W target | Price when posted | Upside | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guggenheim | Analyst unavailable | $120 | $97.22 | +13.7% | Sep 25, 2026 |
| Piper Sandler | Analyst unavailable | $118 | $98.48 | +11.8% | Sep 11, 2026 |
| UBS | Peter Grom | $116 | $110.11 | +9.9% | Aug 5, 2026 |
| Barclays | Analyst unavailable | $115 | $108.48 | +8.9% | Jul 21, 2026 |
| UBS | Analyst unavailable | $115 | $108.13 | +8.9% | Jul 16, 2026 |
| Piper Sandler | Analyst unavailable | $121 | $104.28 | +14.6% | Jun 17, 2026 |
| UBS | Analyst unavailable | $106 | $97.4 | +0.4% | Apr 29, 2026 |
| Barclays | Lauren Lieberman | $99 | $97.1 | -6.2% | Apr 14, 2026 |
| Wells Fargo | Analyst unavailable | $100 | $97 | -5.3% | Apr 8, 2026 |
| Wells Fargo | Analyst unavailable | $110 | $109.41 | +4.2% | Feb 17, 2026 |
| UBS | Peter Grom | $110 | $100.51 | +4.2% | Jan 28, 2026 |
| Barclays | Analyst unavailable | $102 | $99.64 | -3.4% | Jan 16, 2026 |
| UBS | Analyst unavailable | $107 | $98.86 | +1.4% | Jan 14, 2026 |
| Wells Fargo | Analyst unavailable | $105 | $98.52 | -0.5% | Jan 5, 2026 |
| BNP Paribas | Analyst unavailable | $110 | $109.84 | +4.2% | Dec 1, 2025 |
| Morgan Stanley | Analyst unavailable | $125 | $99.79 | +18.4% | Nov 4, 2025 |
| Evercore ISI | Analyst unavailable | $120 | $102.27 | +13.7% | Nov 4, 2025 |
| Barclays | Analyst unavailable | $132 | $119.71 | +25.0% | Nov 3, 2025 |
| RBC Capital | Nik Modi | $162 | $121.45 | +53.5% | Oct 28, 2025 |
| UBS | Peter Grom | $130 | $120.8 | +23.1% | Oct 8, 2025 |
| Piper Sandler | Michael Lavery | $145 | $123.23 | +37.3% | Oct 2, 2025 |
| Barclays | Analyst unavailable | $131 | $124.34 | +24.1% | Oct 1, 2025 |
| Piper Sandler | Korinne Wolfmeyer | $156 | $133.4 | +47.8% | Apr 23, 2025 |
| Wells Fargo | Analyst unavailable | $140 | $140.71 | +32.6% | Mar 28, 2025 |
| Barclays | Analyst unavailable | $144 | $140.56 | +36.4% | Mar 27, 2025 |
| CFRA | Ana Garcia | $151 | $137.75 | +43.0% | Oct 22, 2024 |
| Deutsche Bank | Steve Powers | $142 | $137.34 | +34.5% | Jul 24, 2024 |
| Piper Sandler | Korrine Wolfmeyer | $174 | $140.79 | +64.8% | Jul 11, 2024 |
| RBC Capital | Nik Modi | $165 | $133.3 | +56.3% | Jun 3, 2024 |
| Barclays | Lauren Lieberman | $136 | $137.78 | +28.8% | Apr 25, 2024 |
| Deutsche Bank | Steve Powers | $132 | $127.27 | +25.0% | Mar 28, 2024 |
| HSBC | Alejandro Zamacona | $146 | $127.27 | +38.3% | Mar 28, 2024 |
| Evercore ISI | Javier Escalante | $150 | $127.27 | +42.1% | Mar 28, 2024 |
| Piper Sandler | Korinne Wolmeyer | $152 | $127.27 | +44.0% | Mar 27, 2024 |
| Morgan Stanley | Dara Mohsenian | $153 | $128.98 | +44.9% | Aug 7, 2023 |
| Jefferies | Stephanie Wissink | $150 | $135.66 | +42.1% | Apr 6, 2023 |
| J.P. Morgan | Analyst unavailable | $124 | $136.74 | +17.5% | Jan 13, 2023 |
| Jefferies | Analyst unavailable | $139 | $137.11 | +31.7% | Jan 4, 2023 |
| Deutsche Bank | Analyst unavailable | $123 | $135.48 | +16.5% | Dec 6, 2022 |
| Wells Fargo | Analyst unavailable | $120 | $112.54 | +13.7% | Oct 3, 2022 |
| UBS | Analyst unavailable | $142 | $132.12 | +34.5% | Jul 27, 2022 |
| Deutsche Bank | Analyst unavailable | $134 | $132.14 | +26.9% | Jul 27, 2022 |
| Barclays | Analyst unavailable | $124 | $128.34 | +17.5% | May 23, 2022 |
| Barclays | Lauren Lieberman | $129 | $142.05 | +22.2% | Apr 28, 2022 |
| Deutsche Bank | Steve Powers | $138 | $143.92 | +30.7% | Apr 25, 2022 |
| Morgan Stanley | Analyst unavailable | $137 | $141.64 | +29.8% | Apr 25, 2022 |
| Wells Fargo | Analyst unavailable | $135 | $138.51 | +27.9% | Apr 25, 2022 |
| J.P. Morgan | Andrea Faria Teixeira | $120 | $139.66 | +13.7% | Apr 25, 2022 |
| Goldman Sachs | Jason English | $124 | $125.03 | +17.5% | Apr 3, 2022 |
| UBS | Peter Grom | $138 | $136.25 | +30.7% | Jan 27, 2022 |
| BNP Paribas | Jeff Stent | $148 | $141.86 | +40.2% | Jan 11, 2022 |
| Deutsche Bank | Stephen Powers | $130 | $130.98 | +23.1% | Oct 26, 2021 |
| HSBC | Robert Price | $131 | $135.43 | +24.1% | Sep 9, 2021 |
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Start freeCompany context
Snapshot as of publicationKimberly-Clark Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets personal care products in the United States. It operates in two segments, North America and International Personal Care. The North America segment offers disposable diapers, training and youth pants, swimpants, baby wipes, feminine and incontinence care products, reusable underwear, facial and bathroom tissue, paper towels, napkins, wipers, tissue, towels, soaps and sanitizers, and other related products under the Huggies, Pull-Ups, Goodnites, Kotex, Poise, Depend, Kleenex, Scott, Cottonelle, Viva, Wypall , and other brand names.…
Historical context
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Sources
- Earnings call transcript and parsed analysis · 2026-05-11T10:29:34.698584+00:00
- FN2 earnings calendar · 2024-11-10T18:38:36.707185+00:00
- Polygon adjusted daily market bars · 2026-10-18T18:30:40.784572+00:00
- Financial Modeling Prep analyst price-target consensus and quote snapshot · 2026-10-18T18:30:40.781403+00:00
Methodology
Reported and consensus figures come from FN2's earnings event records. Market reaction and volume are calculated from daily adjusted bars around the event; abnormal move subtracts the SPY move over the same window.
Analyst target low, average, and high values are derived at request time from each named analyst's latest persisted FMP target. The current-price marker comes from FN2's persisted market snapshot. They are sell-side estimates, not an FN2 valuation or recommendation.
Transcript intelligence is a structured synthesis of the current and prior earnings-call analyses. Missing values stay missing and are never estimated.
By FN2 Research · Updated · As of 2026-10-18. For educational purposes only; not investment advice.