Please read the article before commenting.How about reading the actual financial statements to obtain the proper context, instead of taking your keyboard bashing cues from journalists'?
Here, I'll help you, with the salient figures taken out of Kimberly-Clark's audited financial statements over the past decade:
View attachment 5924596[Source:Kimberly-Clark Corp. Audited Financial Statements]
Yes, the Operating Margin and Return on Assets (ROA), recovered in the most recently-announced quarter, but that's merely because the previous corresponding base period was completely bombed out compared to normal levels of Operating Margin and ROA, reflecting the peak point of margin compression due to the supply chain pain following Covid.
Best viewed graphically: as can be seen, prior to Covid, this business generated Operating Margins that averaged
over 17%. In the supply-chain impacted years during, and following, Covid, Op. Margin averaged a mere
13.4%So all that happened in 2023 was a rebound - and only a partial one at that - towards what was a historically normalised level:
View attachment 5924578So, merely getting back to normal is what the "gotcha-seeking" journalist who wrote that media article presented as "price gouging"... which is obviously partisan boolsheet when the proper context is presented.
Embarrassingly, you ran with that BS.
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