Clorox (CLX) Competitors

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

Is KMB or CLX more profitable?

Kimberly-Clark has a net margin of 12.69% compared to Clorox's net margin of 9.89%. Clorox's return on equity of 324.23% 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	9.89%	324.23%	14.91%

Which has preferable valuation & 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	2.17	$2.55B	$7.34	17.56
Clorox	$7.09B	2.09	$280M	$5.57	21.55

Which has more volatility and risk, KMB or CLX?

Kimberly-Clark has a beta of 0.38, indicating that its stock price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Clorox has a beta of 0.54, indicating that its stock price is 46% 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 3.9%. Clorox pays an annual dividend of $4.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Kimberly-Clark pays out 68.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Clorox pays out 87.6% 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 has raised its dividend for 54 consecutive years and Clorox has raised its dividend for 47 consecutive years.

Do analysts recommend KMB or CLX?

Kimberly-Clark currently has a consensus target price of $143.50, suggesting a potential upside of 11.31%. Clorox has a consensus target price of $149.50, suggesting a potential upside of 24.54%. Given Clorox's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Clorox is more favorable than Kimberly-Clark.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kimberly-Clark	2 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.09
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 3 more articles in the media than Clorox. MarketBeat recorded 29 mentions for Kimberly-Clark and 26 mentions for Clorox. Kimberly-Clark's average media sentiment score of 1.38 beat Clorox's score of 1.03 indicating that Kimberly-Clark is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Kimberly-Clark	25 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Clorox	16 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

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

76.3% of Kimberly-Clark shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.5% of Clorox shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Kimberly-Clark shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Clorox shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Kimberly-Clark beats Clorox on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.