Shares of Kimberly-Clark Corp. KMB rose 0.8% toward a one-year high in premarket trading Tuesday, after Kleenex, Huggies and Cottonelle brands parent reported first-quarter results that topped expectations and raised its full-year profit outlook. Net income rose to $566 million, or $1.67 a share, from $523 million, or $1.55 a share, in the year-ago period. That beat the FactSet consensus for earnings per share of $1.32. Sales grew 2.0% to $5.20 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $5.06 billion, as a 10% increase in pricing and favorable product mix offset a 5% decline in volume. “Revenue growth management initiatives drove continued sales momentum with a better-than-expected elasticity impact on volume,” said Chief Executive Mike Hsu. Cost of sales fell 3.0% to $3.47 billion, as gross margin improved to 33.2% from 29.8%. For 2023, the company raised its EPS growth guidance 6% to 10% from 2% to 6%, but kept its sales growth outlook at flat to up 2%. The stock has gained 4.9% year to date through Monday while the S&P 500 SPX has advanced 7.8%.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.