By Dhirendra Tripathi

Investing.com – Kimberly-Clark stock (NYSE:) fell 3.7% Wednesday as high raw material prices weighed on its annual outlook.

Kleenex, the maker of Huggies diapers and Kleenex tissue products is anticipating that its 2022 share of profit will be between $5.60 and $6 based on an organic growth rate of 3% to 4.4%. Compare this to the 2021 EPS at $6.18 for organic sales that fell by 1%.

Current financial year net sales are expected to rise 1%-22% over 2021, which saw a 2% increase.

“While we expect inflation and supply-chain disruption to persist into 2022, we are committed to recovering margins to pre-pandemic levels over time, and we are optimistic about gradual improvement later in the year,” Chief Executive Officer Mike Hsu said in a statement.

The fourth quarter sales of $5 billion rose by 3% year over year, largely due to price increases. Kimberly stated that organic sales rose by 3% in the fourth quarter due to an increase of net selling prices rising 2% and a 1% rise in product mix sales. The volumes were greater in personal care, but they fell in K-C Professional and consumer tissue.

Sales in the personal care segment for fourth quarter were $2.6billion. This was driven both by higher volume and price increases. The consumer tissue segment saw a decline. As both volumes and prices dropped, sales fell by 10% to $1.6 million. Covid had a greater impact on sales last year.

The adjusted profit per share was $1.30 higher than the estimates.