Kimberly-Clark (NASDAQ:KMB – Get Free Report) and Honest (NASDAQ:HNST – Get Free Report) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, valuation and earnings.
Volatility and Risk
Kimberly-Clark has a beta of 0.25, indicating that its stock price is 75% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Honest has a beta of 2.24, indicating that its stock price is 124% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
76.3% of Kimberly-Clark shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 45.5% of Honest shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of Kimberly-Clark shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 9.4% of Honest shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Profitability
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Kimberly-Clark | 11.79% | 143.92% | 14.21% |
| Honest | -3.56% | 4.31% | 3.33% |
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Kimberly-Clark and Honest, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Kimberly-Clark | 1 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 2.29 |
| Honest | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2.22 |
Kimberly-Clark currently has a consensus target price of $117.36, suggesting a potential upside of 19.52%. Honest has a consensus target price of $4.84, suggesting a potential downside of 9.02%. Given Kimberly-Clark’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Kimberly-Clark is more favorable than Honest.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares Kimberly-Clark and Honest”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Kimberly-Clark | $16.58 billion | 1.97 | $2.02 billion | $5.88 | 16.70 |
| Honest | $342.01 million | 1.71 | -$15.69 million | ($0.11) | -48.36 |
Kimberly-Clark has higher revenue and earnings than Honest. Honest is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Kimberly-Clark, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Kimberly-Clark beats Honest on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Kimberly-Clark
Kimberly-Clark Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets personal care and consumer tissue products in the United States. It operates through three segments: Personal Care, Consumer Tissue, and K-C Professional. The company’s Personal Care segment offers disposable diapers, training and youth pants, swimpants, baby wipes, feminine and incontinence care products, reusable underwear, and other related products under the Huggies, Pull-Ups, Little Swimmers, GoodNites, DryNites, Sweety, Kotex, U by Kotex, Intimus, Thinx, Poise, Depend, Plenitud, Softex, and other brand names. Its Consumer Tissue segment provides facial and bathroom tissues, paper towels, napkins, and related products under the Kleenex, Scott, Cottonelle, Viva, Andrex, Scottex, Neve, and other brand names. The company’s K-C Professional segment offers wipers, tissues, towels, apparel, personal protective equipment, soaps, and sanitizers under the Kleenex, Scott, WypAll, Kimtech, and KleenGuard brands. It also sells household use products directly to supermarkets, mass merchandisers, drugstores, warehouse clubs, variety and department stores, and other retail outlets, as well as through other distributors and e-commerce; and away-from-home use products directly to distributors, manufacturing, lodging, office building, food service, and public facilities, as well as through e-commerce. Kimberly-Clark Corporation was founded in 1872 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.
About Honest
The Honest Company, Inc. manufactures and sells diapers and wipes, skin and personal care, and household and wellness products. The company also offers baby clothing and nursery bedding products. It sells its products through digital and retail sales channels, such as its website and third-party ecommerce sites, as well as brick and mortar retailers. The company was incorporated in 2012 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.
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