Kimberly-Clark Tumbles Most in Two Years on Cost, Tax Outlook

(Bloomberg) -- Kimberly-Clark Corp. tumbled the most in two years after the maker of Kleenex tissue and Cottonelle toilet paper said it was expecting its tax rate to increase and commodity costs to stay high.

Shares sank as much as 4.9 percent and traded down 2.7 percent at $107.26 as of 1:32 p.m. in New York. Investors reacted negatively after incoming Chief Executive Officer Michael Hsu, who was appointed to the post just this morning, said in a conference call that the cost outlook for 2019 was looking tough, according to Atlantic Equities analyst Edward Lewis.

“The overall environment remains challenging, especially with commodity inflation and currency volatility,” Hsu said on the call. The company forecast its tax rate would increase to as high as 26 percent next year, up from 21 percent to 22 percent this year.

Kimberly-Clark reported adjusted earnings per share of $1.71 for the third quarter, beating the average estimate of $1.63 among analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Net sales of $4.58 billion compared with an estimate of $4.52 billion.

To contact the reporter on this story: Caleb Mutua in New York at dmutua@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Courtney Dentch at cdentch1@bloomberg.net, Brendan Walsh, Richard Richtmyer

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.