Kimberly-Clark 3Q Earnings Squeezed Higher Input Costs

By Matt Grossman

Kimberly-Clark Corp. Monday posted little changed earnings in the latest quarter as the company faced greater cost increases than it had expected from a supply-chain crunch.

The Irving, Texas-based paper-products maker logged third-quarter earnings of $1.39 a share, compared with $1.38 a share a year earlier. Net income attributable to the company was $469 million, compared with $472 million a year ago.

Stripping out one-time items, the company posted adjusted earnings of $1.62 a share. Analysts polled by FactSet had forecast an adjusted profit of $1.65 a share.

Sales grew to $5.01 billion from $4.68 billion in the year-ago quarter. Analysts were forecasting sales of $4.99 billion.

Personal-care sales grew 14% to $2.7 billion, including 11% growth in North America. Input costs for the segment rose, Kimberly-Clark said.

Consumer-tissue sales declined by 5% to $1.5 billion, as demand subsided year over year compared with the earlier phases of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Professional sales rose 13% to $800 million.

"Our earnings were negatively impacted by significant inflation and supply chain disruptions that increased our costs beyond what we anticipated," Chairman and Chief Executive Mike Hsu said.

Write to Matt Grossman at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 25, 2021 08:00 ET (12:00 GMT)

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