Kimberly-Clark Corporation (KMB) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript
Access earnings results, analyst expectations, report, slides, earnings call, and transcript.
Overview
The earnings call indicates strong financial performance with eight consecutive quarters of volume and mix growth, robust productivity, and strategic focus on innovation. Positive guidance for EBIT growth and margin expansion further supports a favorable outlook. While there are some risks, such as integration and competitive pressures, management's confidence and strategic initiatives, including the Kenvue acquisition, suggest a positive stock price movement in the near term.
Key Financial Performance
Volume plus mix growth Achieved an eighth consecutive quarter of solid performance in Q4 2025. This reflects continued advancement in the volume plus mix growth model. Reasons for the growth include enterprise-weighted share gains and industry-leading productivity.
Productivity Marked a second straight year of industry-leading productivity, with Q4 2025 being the strongest quarter of the year. This was driven by cost discipline and optimization of the margin structure.
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Operating Highlights
Consumer-directed, science-based innovation: Kimberly-Clark is introducing consumer-directed, science-based innovation and breakthrough marketing across brands and markets faster than ever before.
Acquisition of Kenvue: The acquisition of Kenvue is expected to advance Kimberly-Clark's trajectory toward higher growth, higher-margin spaces and create a global health and wellness leader.
Volume plus mix growth model: Delivered an eighth consecutive quarter of solid volume plus mix performance in Q4 2025.
Cost discipline and margin optimization: Exercising cost discipline and deploying capabilities to optimize margin structure.
Industry-leading productivity: Marked a second straight year of industry-leading productivity, with Q4 2025 being the strongest of the year.
Powering Care initiative: The Powering Care initiative has driven strong results, rewired the organization for growth, and pivoted the portfolio to higher growth, higher-margin personal care categories.
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Risk or Challenges
Consumer Pressure and Value Focus: The company expects continued pressure on consumers and a persistent focus on value, which could impact demand for premium products and overall revenue growth.
Dynamic External Environment: Operating amidst a dynamic external environment poses challenges to maintaining consistent performance and achieving strategic objectives.
Pending Acquisition of Kenvue: The acquisition of Kenvue, while a growth opportunity, carries risks related to integration, execution, and achieving the anticipated synergies and value creation.
Remote Work Challenges: Remote work due to winter storms may lead to operational inefficiencies or communication delays, potentially impacting decision-making and execution.
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Guidance & Outlook
Future growth and investment plans: Kimberly-Clark has built a robust and achievable plan for 2026, focusing on differentiating trusted brands and ensuring healthy investment levels across the value chain.
Consumer market outlook: The company expects continued pressure on consumers and a persistent focus on value.
Acquisition of Kenvue: The acquisition is expected to advance Kimberly-Clark's trajectory toward higher growth and higher-margin spaces, creating a global health and wellness leader.
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Shareholder Return Plan
The selected topic was not discussed during the call.
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Key Q&A
Q:What is the company's strategy for growing volumes in a challenging consumer environment?
A:The company focuses on delivering superior propositions at every tier of the good, better, best ladder. They emphasize innovation, marketing, and activation to meet consumer needs, strengthen offerings, and expand categories globally. They have developed a robust pipeline of innovation and are optimistic about their ability to deliver what consumers are looking for.
Q:How does the company view category growth and its impact on EBIT growth guidance?
A:The company expects category growth to be around 2% globally, plus or minus, and believes their categories are more resilient and stable. They aim to grow in line with or ahead of the category to achieve their mid-single to high single-digit EBIT growth guidance.
Q:What factors contributed to the price/mix dynamics in North America?
A:Three factors contributed: 1) Promotional activity in Q4 to drive trial for innovations like Snug & Dry diapers; 2) Club mix dynamics, where consumers buy larger pack sizes at lower price per unit; 3) Strategic investments in pack sizes and pricing to align value ladders across channels.
Q:What is the company's response to Procter entering the U.S. diaper category at Costco?
A:The company focuses on providing differentiated brand value propositions across all channels. They acknowledge a partial loss of diapers and pull-ups distribution in the North America club channel, which is incorporated into their full-year expectations. They remain confident in their long-term strategy and performance.
Q:What is the company's outlook for category growth in 2026?
A:The company expects weighted global average category growth to be around 2%, with North America and international personal care businesses growing in line or ahead of the categories. They anticipate organic growth to accelerate in the back half of the year.
Q:What is the company's progress towards achieving 40% gross margin and 18-20% operating profit margin by 2030?
A:The company has strong visibility into achieving these targets, driven by productivity improvements, innovation, and premiumization. They expect to expand margins in 2026 and are on pace to meet their long-term goals.
Q:What are the company's plans for international business growth?
A:The company aims to grow international markets by meeting consumer demand at all tiers, especially premium segments, leveraging global scale, and driving productivity. They have seen significant share gains in key markets like China, Brazil, and Indonesia.
Q:How does the company plan to address competitive pressures and maintain pricing discipline?
A:The company focuses on innovation, brand building, and effective marketing rather than relying on promotions. They aim to strengthen value propositions at all tiers and invest in impactful advertising to drive volume and mix growth.
Q:What is the company's update on the Kenvue acquisition and its impact on financials?
A:The shareholder vote for the Kenvue acquisition is expected to be favorable, and the transaction is on track to close in the second half of the year. The company sees significant value creation opportunities and plans to invest in Kenvue's brands and capabilities.
Q:What are the company's expectations for medium-term growth and margin expansion?
A:The company expects to grow at or above global weighted average category growth, with operating profit growth at the higher end of mid- to high single digits. They plan to expand margins through productivity improvements, innovation, and disciplined SG&A savings.
Q:Review of Unclear Management Responses
A:Management avoided providing specific details on the timing and regulatory filing updates for the Kenvue acquisition, stating only that the process is on track. Additionally, they did not provide precise data on how competitive pressures might impact pricing and margins in 2026, instead emphasizing their strategic focus and confidence in their plans.
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Earnings Word Cloud
The most frequently occurring keywords in this quarter's earning call
Clark Instructions
Clark comment
Greetings Clark
Head Investor
Instructions conference
Relations Clark
Relations Head
advance issue
audio today
conference host
delay audio
host Vice
investorkimberlyclarkcom advance
issue quality
material investorkimberlyclarkcom
quality delay
storm opening
today winter
winter storm
KMB Transcript
Kimberly-Clark Corporation (KMB) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript
Positive1-27
The earnings call indicates strong financial performance with eight consecutive quarters of volume and mix growth, robust productivity, and strategic focus on innovation. Positive guidance for EBIT growth and margin expansion further supports a favorable outlook. While there are some risks, such as integration and competitive pressures, management's confidence and strategic initiatives, including the Kenvue acquisition, suggest a positive stock price movement in the near term.
Kimberly-Clark Corporation (KMB) Presents at Morgan Stanley Global Consumer & Retail Conference 2025 Transcript
Neutral12-3
Kimberly-Clark Corporation (KMB) Q3 2025 Earnings Call Transcript
Positive10-30
The earnings call summary indicates consistent growth in volume, market share, and operating margins, supported by strategic marketing shifts and premiumization efforts. The Q&A section adds confidence with plans for premiumization, innovation, and cost mitigation. Despite some uncertainties in future P&L specifics and tariff impacts, the overall sentiment is positive due to strong market performance and strategic positioning, suggesting a likely stock price increase.
Kimberly-Clark Corporation (KMB) Presents At Piper Sandler's Growth Frontiers Conference (Transcript)
Neutral9-10
KMB Slides
KMB Report
Frequently Asked Questions
Where does this earnings call transcript come from?
All transcripts are sourced directly from the official live webcast or the company’s official investor relations website. We use the exact words spoken during the call with no paraphrasing of the core discussion.
How soon is the transcript available after the earnings call ends?
Full verbatim transcripts are typically published within 4–12 hours after the call ends. Same-day availability is guaranteed for all S&P 500 and most mid-cap companies.
Is the transcript edited or altered in any way?
No material content is ever changed or summarized in the “Full Transcript” section. We only correct obvious spoken typos (e.g., “um”, “ah”, repeated 10 times”, or clear misspoken ticker symbols) and add speaker names/titles for readability. Every substantive sentence remains 100% as spoken.
Why do some answers appear as “Unclear” or “Inaudible”?
When audio quality is poor or multiple speakers talk over each other, we mark the section instead of guessing. This ensures complete accuracy rather than introducing potential errors.
Who creates the AI Summary and Key Q&A highlights shown above the transcript?
They are generated by a specialized financial-language model trained exclusively on 15+ years of earnings transcripts. The model extracts financial figures, guidance, and tone with 97%+ accuracy and is regularly validated against human analysts. The full raw transcript always remains available for verification.
