Kimberly-Clark (NASDAQ:KMB) & Kenvue (NYSE:KVUE) Head-To-Head Survey

Kenvue (NYSE:KVUE) and Kimberly-Clark (NASDAQ:KMB) 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 risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation and dividends.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Kenvue and Kimberly-Clark”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kenvue	$15.41 billion	2.37	$1.47 billion	$0.87	21.84
Kimberly-Clark	$16.45 billion	2.21	$2.02 billion	$5.88	18.56

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

Dividends

Kenvue pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. Kimberly-Clark pays an annual dividend of $5.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.7%. Kenvue pays out 96.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Kimberly-Clark pays out 87.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Kenvue has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years and Kimberly-Clark has increased its dividend for 54 consecutive years. Kimberly-Clark is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares Kenvue and Kimberly-Clark’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kenvue	10.76%	21.22%	8.37%
Kimberly-Clark	11.79%	143.92%	14.21%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Kenvue and Kimberly-Clark, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kenvue	0	12	3	0	2.20
Kimberly-Clark	1	11	4	1	2.29

Kenvue presently has a consensus price target of $19.27, suggesting a potential upside of 1.44%. Kimberly-Clark has a consensus price target of $117.93, suggesting a potential upside of 8.07%. Given Kimberly-Clark’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Kimberly-Clark is more favorable than Kenvue.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

97.6% of Kenvue shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 76.3% of Kimberly-Clark shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.6% of Kenvue shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Kimberly-Clark 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.

Volatility & Risk

Kenvue has a beta of 0.47, suggesting that its share price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kimberly-Clark has a beta of 0.26, suggesting that its share price is 74% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Kimberly-Clark beats Kenvue on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Kenvue

Kenvue Inc. operates as a consumer health company worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Self Care, Skin Health and Beauty, and Essential Health. The Self Care segment offers cough, cold and allergy, pain care, digestive health, smoking cessation, eye care, and other products under the Tylenol, Motrin, Benadryl, Nicorette, Zarbee's, ORSLTM, Rhinocort, Calpol, and Zyrtec brands. The Skin Health and Beauty segment provides face and body care, hair, sun, and other care products under the Neutrogena, Aveeno, Dr.Ci:Labo, Le Petit Marseillais, Lubriderm, Rogaine, and OGX brand names. The Essential Health segment offers oral and baby, women's health, wound, and other care products under the Listerine, Johnson's, Band-Aid, and Stayfree, o.b., tampons, Carefree, and Desitin Diaper Rash brands. The company was incorporated in 2022 and is headquartered in Skillman, New Jersey.

About Kimberly-Clark

Kimberly-Clark Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets personal care and consumer tissue products in the United States. It operates through three segments: Personal Care, Consumer Tissue, and K-C Professional. The company’s Personal Care segment offers disposable diapers, training and youth pants, swimpants, baby wipes, feminine and incontinence care products, reusable underwear, and other related products under the Huggies, Pull-Ups, Little Swimmers, GoodNites, DryNites, Sweety, Kotex, U by Kotex, Intimus, Thinx, Poise, Depend, Plenitud, Softex, and other brand names. Its Consumer Tissue segment provides facial and bathroom tissues, paper towels, napkins, and related products under the Kleenex, Scott, Cottonelle, Viva, Andrex, Scottex, Neve, and other brand names. The company’s K-C Professional segment offers wipers, tissues, towels, apparel, personal protective equipment, soaps, and sanitizers under the Kleenex, Scott, WypAll, Kimtech, and KleenGuard brands. It also sells household use products directly to supermarkets, mass merchandisers, drugstores, warehouse clubs, variety and department stores, and other retail outlets, as well as through other distributors and e-commerce; and away-from-home use products directly to distributors, manufacturing, lodging, office building, food service, and public facilities, as well as through e-commerce. Kimberly-Clark Corporation was founded in 1872 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.