The Clorox Company (CLX) Earnings
The Clorox Company is expected to report next earnings on November 3, 2026 (in NaN days), with a consensus EPS estimate of $1.11. CLX has beaten EPS estimates in 11 of its last 12 reported quarters (average surprise +8.8% over the last four).
| Report date | EPS est | EPS actual | Surprise | Revenue | Rev. surprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 3, 2026 | $1.64 | $1.66 | +1.2% | $1.9B | +1.7% |
| Apr 30, 2026 | $1.54 | $1.64 | +6.5% | $1.7B | +0.0% |
| Feb 3, 2026 | $1.43 | $1.39 | -2.8% | $1.7B | +0.0% |
| Jul 31, 2025 | $2.20 | $2.87 | +30.5% | $2.0B | +3.1% |
| Feb 3, 2025 | $1.39 | $1.55 | +11.5% | $1.7B | -4.3% |
| Aug 1, 2024 | $1.57 | $1.82 | +15.6% | $1.9B | -2.5% |
| Apr 30, 2024 | $1.38 | $1.71 | +24.4% | $1.8B | -3.3% |
| Feb 1, 2024 | $1.08 | $2.16 | +99.6% | $2.0B | +10.6% |
| Nov 1, 2023 | $-0.20 | $0.49 | +345.0% | $1.4B | +6.0% |
| Aug 2, 2023 | $1.18 | $1.67 | +41.5% | $2.0B | +7.6% |
| May 2, 2023 | $1.20 | $1.51 | +25.8% | $1.9B | +5.3% |
| Feb 2, 2023 | $0.65 | $0.98 | +50.8% | $1.7B | +3.4% |
Source: company filings + earnings calendar. For informational purposes only — not investment advice.
Earnings call summary
Q4 FY2026 · August 3, 2026
AI summary of management’s prepared remarks and analyst Q&A. For informational purposes only — not investment advice.
Management highlights
- General Operating Environment * Fiscal 2026 operated in a dynamic market with heightened consumer value-seeking behavior, increased competitive activity, persistent inflationary pressures, and ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty. * Most businesses performed at or above expectations; management took decisive action to improve underperforming segments and delivered sequential improvement throughout the year. - Strategic Priorities * Core focus on advancing product superiority across key categories, sharpening product experiences, strengthening price pack architecture, improving promotion effectiveness, increasing brand investment impact, and ensuring presence in preferred consumer shopping channels. * Long-term strategy is focused on delivering portfolio-wide superiority, accelerating consumer-led innovation, investing behind brands, reshaping the portfolio for structurally faster growth, advancing operational excellence, and generating capital to reinvest in the business. * Always-on transformation work is ongoing to strengthen internal capabilities, improve productivity, and position the business for consistent profitable growth. - Operational Progress * The GOJO acquisition integration is proceeding on schedule, in some areas slightly ahead of plan, and the strategic rationale for the acquisition is already playing out. * All distribution lost following the 2020 cyber attack has been fully recovered; current distribution is higher than pre-cyber attack levels, with additional share of distribution gains achieved in fiscal 2026. * U.S. ERP implementation is complete, and the company has moved past the implementation-related operational inefficiencies that impacted fiscal 2026 results, particularly in Q2 and Q3. * Innovation as a percentage of sales doubled in fiscal 2026, with a strong slate of consumer trend-aligned innovation planned for fiscal 2027.
Guidance
- Overall organic sales growth is guided to be flat to slightly positive for fiscal 2027, consistent with muted category growth that matches fiscal 2026 levels. - Gross margin is guided to 42% for the full year; gross margin recovery is expected to begin in the back half of fiscal 2027, though full offset of incremental inflation will not be achieved in the full year. - Total fiscal 2027 inflation is expected to exceed $200 million, more than double the historical 75-100 million range, with the impact concentrated in the first half of the year. Inflation includes not just commodity costs, but also persistent broader supply chain, logistics, supplier, freight, and labor cost increases. The guidance assumes an average Brent crude price of ~$90 per barrel. - Free cash flow conversion is expected to be in the target range of 11-13% of sales, consistent with historical targets, supported by ongoing working capital discipline. - EPS guidance has a wider than usual range driven by volatility in inflation timing and transitory ERP adjustment impacts; ex-GOJO, advertising and promotion spend is expected to remain at over 11% of sales, consistent with prior years, with phasing following historical seasonal patterns focused on key selling and innovation launch periods. - Productivity savings are expected to more than offset SG&A inflation on a comparable basis in fiscal 2027; material ERP-enabled productivity gains are expected to begin flowing in late fiscal 2027 and accelerate in fiscal 2028.
Segment performance
The call does not provide explicit absolute or percentage revenue contribution figures for individual product segments. Management notes that Home Care delivered eight consecutive quarters of share growth, and Pro & International businesses also delivered strong share growth. GLAAD (trash bags) and Hidden Valley Ranch achieved share turnarounds exiting fiscal 2026, with Hidden Valley seeing particularly strong share growth driven by World Cup activation. The Fresh Step (cat litter) segment remains underperforming, though early targeted actions have improved market share trends. Kingsford (grilling fuel) saw 2026 performance negatively impacted by poor holiday weather and suboptimal retail merchandising, though management expects improvement in the 2027 grilling season. The recently acquired GOJO/Purell business outperformed Q4 targets and is expected to be accretive to adjusted EPS in fiscal 2027, with projected mid-to-high single-digit annual growth as revenue synergies are realized.
Risks & headwinds
- Persistent, higher-than-historical inflation across commodities, supply chain, and logistics creates pressure on gross margins, with the full impact concentrated in the first half of fiscal 2027. - Geopolitical volatility (including conflicts such as the Middle East) creates ongoing uncertainty for energy, commodity, and supply chain pricing and stability. - Continued macroeconomic weakness and elevated consumer value-seeking behavior increases pressure on pricing and market share, particularly for lower-priced private label competitors in categories like trash bags and cat litter. - The cat litter (Fresh Step) segment still carries residual operational and market share hangover from the 2020 cyber attack, and the turnaround of this business is in early innings, with full recovery expected to take time. - Kingsford 2027 fiscal Q1 results will be impacted by residual timing impacts from the 2026 grilling season, which was negatively affected by extreme weather disrupting consumer grilling activity. - A relatively flat top line limits operating leverage to offset cost pressures in SG&A.
Analyst Q&A
Q: UBS asked how category growth and market share trends underpin the flat to slightly positive organic sales outlook, and if consumption improvement will drive acceleration through the year. /
A: Management expects muted category growth consistent with 2026 levels, in line with continued consumer value-seeking and macro weakness. The company expects continued sequential market share improvement, building on 2026's trend of stronger share performance exiting the year. Q1 weakness is primarily a timing impact for Kingsford from the 2026 grilling season, not a reflection of underlying trends; sequential improvement in share and consumption is expected to continue through the back half of 2027.
Q: Citi asked for a breakdown of 2027 commodity and inflation expectations, including oil price assumptions. /
A: Total fiscal 2027 inflation is expected to be over $200 million, more than double the historical 75-100 million range, with the guidance assuming an average Brent crude price of ~$90 per barrel. Inflation extends beyond just energy and commodities, with persistent cost pressure across supplier inputs, ocean freight, trucking, and other logistics costs. The inflation impact will be more pronounced in the first half of the fiscal year.
Q: Bank of America asked if the company plans to trim the portfolio of underperforming categories like litter, how the cyber attack aftereffects have impacted performance, and how lower category growth is changing innovation plans. /
A: Management will continue disciplined, regular portfolio reviews focused on shareholder value, with no immediate divestiture plans to announce. Most residual cyber attack impacts have been resolved, with all distribution recovered, though Fresh Step litter still has lingering share headwinds and is a work in progress. The company is laser-focused on delivering value superiority across all five levers (product, package, proposition, placement, price) to drive category growth despite macro headwinds, with increased innovation investment planned for 2027 targeting key consumer trends like wellness and pet health.
Q: BNP Paribas asked about the company's dividend policy given the elevated payout ratio relative to peer staples companies, and if a reset is under consideration to free up reinvestment capital. /
A: The company expects continued strong free cash flow generation in line with the 11-13% of sales target, with GOJO adding stable incremental cash flow and future tax benefits. The board remains committed to the current dividend policy, which has delivered annual increases for a decade, and the current elevated payout ratio is viewed as transitory as gross margins rebuild. No changes to the policy are currently planned.
Q: Deutsche Bank asked if guidance was set more conservatively than usual due to the ongoing CEO search process. /
A: Management stated that fiscal 2027 guidance was developed using the same principled, assumption-based approach used in every year, with no additional conservatism added due to the leadership transition. The team is fully focused on executing the current plan, which is viewed as the right approach to set the new CEO up for success once the transition is complete.