Kimberly-Clark (KMB) Competitors

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

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of KMB or CL?

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

Which has more risk & volatility, KMB or CL?

Kimberly-Clark has a beta of 0.36, indicating that its stock price is 64% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Colgate-Palmolive has a beta of 0.4, indicating that its stock price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts rate KMB or CL?

Kimberly-Clark presently has a consensus price target of $144.50, suggesting a potential upside of 2.81%. Colgate-Palmolive has a consensus price target of $102.06, suggesting a potential upside of 9.44%. Given Colgate-Palmolive's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly 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)	11 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.48

Does the media favor KMB or CL?

In the previous week, Colgate-Palmolive had 16 more articles in the media than Kimberly-Clark. MarketBeat recorded 49 mentions for Colgate-Palmolive and 33 mentions for Kimberly-Clark. Kimberly-Clark's average media sentiment score of 1.42 beat Colgate-Palmolive's score of 1.42 indicating that Kimberly-Clark is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Kimberly-Clark	27 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Colgate-Palmolive	39 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

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%

Which has better earnings & valuation, 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	18.62
Colgate-Palmolive	$20.10B	3.76	$2.89B	$3.52	26.49

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in KMB or CL?

Colgate-Palmolive received 9 more outperform votes than Kimberly-Clark when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 50.59% 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 550 49.59%	Underperform Votes 559 50.41%
Colgate-Palmolive	Outperform Votes 559 50.59%	Underperform Votes 546 49.41%

Is KMB or CL a better dividend stock?

Kimberly-Clark pays an annual dividend of $5.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Colgate-Palmolive pays an annual dividend of $2.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Kimberly-Clark pays out 66.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Colgate-Palmolive pays out 59.1% 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 raised its dividend for 54 consecutive years and Colgate-Palmolive has raised its dividend for 62 consecutive years.

Summary

Colgate-Palmolive beats Kimberly-Clark on 17 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.