Kimberly-Clark shareholders were in need of some good news. We’ve been gifted plenty of it this week. On Thursday alone, the maker of Kleenex and Huggies reported better-than-feared preliminary results for its third quarter, and Chinese authorities pushed back on social-media claims that have hurt diaper sales in the country. The one-two punch came just days after European regulators signed off on its planned acquisition of Kenvue , the owner of Band-Aid, Tylenol and other health and wellness brands. Brazilian regulators have since followed suit, legal news service MLex reported Friday . Meanwhile, turbulence for the AI trade has also boosted defensive parts of the market, including the consumer-staples corner where Kimberly-Clark resides. The slew of favorable developments has propelled shares up about 8% this week, including Friday’s more than 1% gain. That puts it atop the Club portfolio leaderboard. The stock is on pace for its best weekly performance since October 2022. Kimberly-Clark is also on track for back-to-back weekly gains for the first time since mid-August. Shares rose 3.4% last week. It’s a much-needed reversal of fortunes for Kimberly-Clark after a bruising 9.75% drop in September. Although we have used the weakness since our Sept. 2 initiation to bulk up the position, it’s encouraging to see Kimberly-Clark start stacking some wins ahead of the expected Kenvue takeover — a big reason we own shares. Our most recent buy was Tuesday. “This was a premier name … and it’s hated because the last couple quarters have been not great,” Jim Cramer said Thursday on CNBC. “But once they merge with Kenvue … it’s going to dovetail perfectly. This is the one you want to be in.” Kimberly-Clark’s strong week while the AI trade wobbled reinforces why we bought the stock in the first place: a desire to pare back our exposure to the data center buildout. While Kimberly-Clark checked that box on its own, the pending Kenvue acquisition added a fundamental catalyst to sweeten the investment case. That didn’t stop the stock from having a rough first few weeks in our portfolio, but now the tide has turned. The early look at Kimberly-Clark’s third-quarter numbers Thursday was a sigh of relief. For the three months ended in September, the company reported preliminary revenue of $4.13 billion and earnings per share of $1.70, both beating Wall Street estimates. Kimberly-Clark will release its full results and hold its usual earnings call on Nov. 5. The early financial disclosure was likely tied to the Kenvue deal process. The sneak-peek results were so encouraging because of Kimberly-Clark’s disappointing update at the Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference on Sept. 9. That’s when CFO Nelson Urdaneta warned that both third-quarter sales and EPS were tracking below the current Wall Street consensus, sending shares down 4.1% — their second worst day of the year. Executives pointed to several emergent headwinds since Kimberly-Clark’s August…
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