Colgate-Palmolive (CL) Competitors

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) and Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) are both large-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, earnings, valuation and community ranking.

Is KMB or CL more profitable?

Colgate-Palmolive has a net margin of 14.38% compared to Kimberly-Clark's net margin of 12.69%. Colgate-Palmolive's return on equity of 477.77% beat Kimberly-Clark's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kimberly-Clark	12.69%	201.43%	14.45%
Colgate-Palmolive	14.38%	477.77%	17.98%

Do analysts prefer KMB or CL?

Kimberly-Clark currently has a consensus price target of $143.64, suggesting a potential upside of 2.40%. Colgate-Palmolive has a consensus price target of $101.16, suggesting a potential upside of 12.95%. Given Colgate-Palmolive's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Colgate-Palmolive is more favorable than Kimberly-Clark.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kimberly-Clark	2 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.20
Colgate-Palmolive	1 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	12 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Does the media favor KMB or CL?

In the previous week, Colgate-Palmolive had 2 more articles in the media than Kimberly-Clark. MarketBeat recorded 40 mentions for Colgate-Palmolive and 38 mentions for Kimberly-Clark. Colgate-Palmolive's average media sentiment score of 1.62 beat Kimberly-Clark's score of 1.33 indicating that Colgate-Palmolive is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Kimberly-Clark	31 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Colgate-Palmolive	36 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Is KMB or CL a better dividend stock?

Kimberly-Clark pays an annual dividend of $4.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Colgate-Palmolive pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Kimberly-Clark pays out 64.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Colgate-Palmolive pays out 56.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Kimberly-Clark has increased its dividend for 54 consecutive years and Colgate-Palmolive has increased its dividend for 62 consecutive years.

Which has more volatility & risk, KMB or CL?

Kimberly-Clark has a beta of 0.41, meaning that its stock price is 59% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Colgate-Palmolive has a beta of 0.44, meaning that its stock price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals and insiders have more ownership in KMB or CL?

76.3% of Kimberly-Clark shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.4% of Colgate-Palmolive shares are held by institutional investors. 0.6% of Kimberly-Clark shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Colgate-Palmolive shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor KMB or CL?

Colgate-Palmolive received 8 more outperform votes than Kimberly-Clark when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 50.64% of users gave Colgate-Palmolive an outperform vote while only 49.59% of users gave Kimberly-Clark an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Kimberly-Clark	Outperform Votes 549 49.59%	Underperform Votes 558 50.41%
Colgate-Palmolive	Outperform Votes 557 50.64%	Underperform Votes 543 49.36%

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, KMB or CL?

Colgate-Palmolive has higher revenue and earnings than Kimberly-Clark. Kimberly-Clark is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Colgate-Palmolive, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kimberly-Clark	$20.06B	2.32	$2.55B	$7.55	18.58
Colgate-Palmolive	$20.10B	3.62	$2.89B	$3.52	25.44

Summary

Colgate-Palmolive beats Kimberly-Clark on 18 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.