Kimberly-Clark (NASDAQ:KMB – Get Free Report) and Coty (NYSE:COTY – Get Free Report) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership and dividends.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Kimberly-Clark and Coty”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Kimberly-Clark | $16.45 billion | 2.27 | $2.02 billion | $5.88 | 19.10 |
| Coty | $5.81 billion | 0.48 | -$604.80 million | ($0.70) | -4.56 |
Kimberly-Clark has higher revenue and earnings than Coty. Coty is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Kimberly-Clark, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Risk and Volatility
Kimberly-Clark has a beta of 0.25, meaning that its share price is 75% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Coty has a beta of 0.9, meaning that its share price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares Kimberly-Clark and Coty’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Kimberly-Clark | 11.79% | 143.92% | 14.21% |
| Coty | -10.42% | 5.68% | 1.82% |
Dividends
Kimberly-Clark pays an annual dividend of $5.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.6%. Coty pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 15.6%. Kimberly-Clark pays out 87.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Coty pays out -71.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Kimberly-Clark has increased its dividend for 54 consecutive years. Coty is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
76.3% of Kimberly-Clark shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 42.4% of Coty shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of Kimberly-Clark shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Coty shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Kimberly-Clark and Coty, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Kimberly-Clark | 2 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 2.24 |
| Coty | 2 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1.92 |
Kimberly-Clark currently has a consensus price target of $116.50, suggesting a potential upside of 3.72%. Coty has a consensus price target of $3.21, suggesting a potential upside of 0.44%. Given Kimberly-Clark’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Kimberly-Clark is more favorable than Coty.
Summary
Kimberly-Clark beats Coty on 15 of the 18 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 Coty
Coty Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells beauty products worldwide. It operates through Prestige and Consumer Beauty segments. The company provides fragrance, color cosmetics, and skin and body care products. It offers Prestige segment products primarily through prestige retailers, including perfumeries, department stores, e-retailers, direct-to-consumer websites, and duty-free shops under the Burberry, Calvin Klein, Chloe, Davidoff, Escada, Gucci, Hugo Boss, Jil Sander, Joop!, Kylie Jenner, Lancaster, Marc Jacobs, Miu Miu, Orveda, philosophy, SKKN BY KIM, and Tiffany & Co. brands. The company provides Consumer Beauty segment products primarily through hypermarkets, supermarkets, drug stores, pharmacies, mid-tier department stores, traditional food and drug retailers, and e-commerce retailers under the Adidas, Beckham, Biocolor, Bozzano, Bourjois, Bruno Banani, CoverGirl, Jovan, Max Factor, Mexx, Monange, Nautica, Paixao, Rimmel, Risque, and Sally Hansen brands. It also sells its products through third-party distributors. The company was founded in 1904 and is headquartered in New York, New York. Coty Inc. is a subsidiary of JAB Beauty B.V.
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