Kenvue shares closed at $19.18 on August 6, down 2.5% after the consumer health company posted a rare earnings miss that ended a four-quarter beat streak. Q2 2026 adjusted EPS was $0.31 versus a $0.32 consensus estimate, revenue was $3.955 billion, and adjusted gross margin fell 70 basis points (0.70 percentage point) to 60.2% as inflation, tariffs and foreign exchange weighed on results. Management withheld guidance and skipped its usual conference call because of the pending $48.7 billion cash-and-stock deal, which would pay $3.50 in cash plus 0.14625 Kimberly-Clark shares for each KVUE share. Retail attention was subdued, with Kenvue's proprietary Reddit sentiment score at a neutral 42 on very thin volume, while unresolved Tylenol autism and UK talc litigation remained legal overhangs that the merger would inherit. Kimberly-Clark, despite reporting Q2 adjusted EPS of $2.12, cut its 2026 outlook to a low-single-digit decline in adjusted EPS attributable to the company after citing a viral China misinformation campaign against Huggies, and its shares have fallen more than 20% over the past year, reducing the value of the stock component in Kenvue's payout.