Clorox Shares Fall On Earnings Miss, Lowered Guidance

Clorox Co. shares fell 2.1% in Wednesday premarket trading after the consumer products company reported fiscal first-quarter earnings that missed estimates. Net income totaled $179 million, or $1.36 per share, up from $173 million, or $1.31 per share, for the same period a year ago. The FactSet consensus was $1.42. Revenue totaled $1.44 billion, up from $1.39 billion and beating the $1.43 billion FactSet consensus. Clorox maintains its outlook for 2% to 4% sales growth in fiscal 2017. The FactSet consensus is $5.96 billion, about 3.4% higher than the full-year revenue of $5.76 billion last year. The anticipated tax rate increased to between 32% and 33% versus the previous assumption of 30% to 31%. The company lowered its EPS outlook to $5.23 to $5.43 from $5.38 to $5.58. Clorox shares are down 5.8% for the year so far while the S&P 500 Index is up 3.3% for the same period.

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