Summary
- Kimberly-Clark is often looked upon as a recession-proof investment.
- The company continues to face headwinds in its core business that have led to a lack of growth.
- If yield and recession-proof is what investors are after, there are better options.
- The stock is too expensive near its 52-week highs.
(Source)
Kimberly-Clark (KMB) has been touted as a buy-and-hold stock that offers investors a stream of income almost worry-free. While the company is reliable with its 46 years of growing dividend payments, times are changing. The company may find it hard to keep up an impressive dividend growth rate as we already have seen due to margin pressure and sales declines. The last time I reviewed Kimberly-Clark, I thought the stock might be a value trap. Since then, it has gained more than 20%. However, the company still is seeing revenue declines even when accounting for pretty aggressive price increases. Investors should not look to Kimberly-Clark as an attractive investment unless it either sees a yield significantly higher than average or it can turn around its declining sales trend.
