The consumer products company forecast fiscal 2027 adjusted earnings of $5.70 to $6.00 and sales growth of 13% to 14%, with the April 2026 GOJO Industries acquisition providing a major lift.
Clorox reported fiscal fourth-quarter results slightly ahead of Wall Street expectations and issued a fiscal 2027 profit outlook above consensus, helped by its April 2026 acquisition of GOJO Industries. Shares rose about 1% in after-hours trading after the release. Adjusted earnings for the quarter ended June 30 came in at $1.66 per share, compared with the analyst estimate of $1.65. Revenue was $1.95 billion, above the $1.91 billion consensus, though down 2% from a year earlier. GOJO added about 10 percentage points to sales, while organic sales fell 13% as Clorox lapped incremental shipments tied to its enterprise resource planning, or ERP (company-wide business software), transition in the prior-year quarter. For fiscal 2027, Clorox expects adjusted EPS of $5.70 to $6.00, with a midpoint of $5.85, above the analyst consensus of $5.52. It projects net sales growth of 13% to 14%, including 9.5 percentage points from GOJO, and organic sales growth of 3.5% to 4.5% as the prior year's ERP-related inventory drawdown becomes easier to compare against. Chair and CEO Linda Rendle said the company is working through a consumer backdrop shaped by value-seeking behavior, stronger competition, inflation and macroeconomic uncertainty. She said Clorox saw sequential improvement in consumption and market share during fiscal 2026, with consumption returning to flat in the fourth quarter and aggregate share down one-tenth of a percentage point. The company said it is entering fiscal 2027 with improving market-share trends, a completed U.S. ERP implementation and a plan to offset more than $200 million in expected supply-chain inflation through productivity measures and targeted pricing. Gross margin fell 520 basis points to 41.3% from 46.5% in the quarter, mainly because of lower volume, the GOJO inventory step-up impact, and higher commodity and logistics costs. Clorox expects gross margin of about 42% in fiscal 2027. It also said category growth should remain muted, broadly in line with fiscal 2026, and that its outlook assumes no significant disruption from inflation or geopolitical developments. The GOJO acquisition, which adds brands including Purell, is expected to be an important growth driver, while Clorox's ability to offset supply-chain inflation will be central to protecting margins.