Clorox (CLX) Competitors

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

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer KMB or CLX?

Kimberly-Clark received 196 more outperform votes than Clorox when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 49.55% of users gave Kimberly-Clark an outperform vote while only 38.58% of users gave Clorox an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Kimberly-Clark	Outperform Votes 554 49.55%	Underperform Votes 564 50.45%
Clorox	Outperform Votes 358 38.58%	Underperform Votes 570 61.42%

Is KMB or CLX more profitable?

Kimberly-Clark has a net margin of 12.69% compared to Clorox's net margin of 6.38%. Clorox's return on equity of 316.87% beat Kimberly-Clark's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kimberly-Clark	12.69%	201.43%	14.45%
Clorox	6.38%	316.87%	15.29%

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, KMB or CLX?

Kimberly-Clark has higher revenue and earnings than Clorox. Kimberly-Clark is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Clorox, 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	$19.75B	2.21	$2.55B	$7.34	17.93
Clorox	$7.17B	2.44	$280M	$3.66	38.84

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of KMB or CLX?

76.3% of Kimberly-Clark shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.5% of Clorox shares are held by institutional investors. 0.6% of Kimberly-Clark shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Clorox shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts prefer KMB or CLX?

Kimberly-Clark presently has a consensus price target of $145.08, suggesting a potential upside of 10.22%. Clorox has a consensus price target of $153.83, suggesting a potential upside of 8.22%. Given Kimberly-Clark's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Kimberly-Clark is more favorable than Clorox.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kimberly-Clark	2 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.15
Clorox	3 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.85

Does the media refer more to KMB or CLX?

In the previous week, Kimberly-Clark had 20 more articles in the media than Clorox. MarketBeat recorded 40 mentions for Kimberly-Clark and 20 mentions for Clorox. Clorox's average media sentiment score of 1.43 beat Kimberly-Clark's score of 0.79 indicating that Clorox is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Kimberly-Clark	24 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	9 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Clorox	16 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility and risk, KMB or CLX?

Kimberly-Clark has a beta of 0.37, suggesting that its share price is 63% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Clorox has a beta of 0.61, suggesting that its share price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is KMB or CLX a better dividend stock?

Kimberly-Clark pays an annual dividend of $5.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Clorox pays an annual dividend of $4.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Kimberly-Clark pays out 68.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Clorox pays out 133.3% 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 has raised its dividend for 54 consecutive years and Clorox has raised its dividend for 47 consecutive years. Kimberly-Clark is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Kimberly-Clark beats Clorox on 14 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.