The Clorox Company

Clorox makes household, cleaning and personal care products that people buy every week. Its brands include Clorox bleach and wipes, Purell hand sanitizer, Pine-Sol cleaner, Glad trash bags, Brita water filters, Burt's Bees skin care, and Kingsford charcoal. Clorox sells these products mostly to large retailers, who then sell them to consumers.

Walmart alone bought 26% of Clorox's products in fiscal 2026. Clorox also sells to hospitals, offices and other businesses through its professional unit. More than 80% of its sales come from brands with the number one or number two share in their category.

Clorox finished a five-year project to replace its old ERP computer system in early 2026. The switchover caused a swing in retailer orders, and fiscal 2026 organic sales fell 8%. Gross margin fell 2.9 points, and the switchover caused only about one point of that drop. Investors fear that the rest shows lasting share loss to store brands, higher costs and a stressed consumer.

Management guides fiscal 2027 organic sales growth of about 3.5% to 4.5%. More than 3.5 points of that growth come from the easy comparison with the weak prior year, so the underlying growth is about flat. On November 2, 2026, Clorox kept its fiscal 2027 sales and adjusted EPS ranges. But it cut its gross margin outlook to about 41.5% from about 42% because costs rose, and it now expects adjusted EPS near the low end of the range.

Debt for the GOJO (Purell) purchase and the Glad joint-venture buyout raised net debt to about 3.8 times EBITDA, a common measure of operating profit, by our calculation. S&P cut the credit rating in February 2026. On October 28, 2026, the board named Fabian Garcia, a Unilever executive, as the next CEO from January 5, 2027. For the gap to close, three conditions must be true.

Organic sales must grow as guided while input costs rise. Net debt must fall toward management's target of about 2.5 times EBITDA by the end of calendar 2027. The new CEO must give a clear plan for GOJO and for debt reduction. The next test is the second-quarter fiscal 2027 report, expected in early February 2027, where the outlook must hold after the margin cut.

The third-quarter report and the new CEO's first plan in 2027 then show whether gross margin and GOJO profit recover. If these hold, the gap can close over the next four to six quarters. If sales or margin disappoint again or the new CEO changes the plan, the discount can stay into 2028.

1. Oct 28, 2026Passed

   Board names a permanent CEOA named successor with a clear plan for GOJO and debt reduction passes; a search that continues past fiscal Q3 2027 fails.Outcome: The board named Fabian Garcia of Unilever as CEO from January 5, 2027, before fiscal Q3 2027, and his plan for GOJO and debt is the next test.
2. Nov 2, 2026Failed

   Fiscal Q1 2027 earnings: full-year outlook holdsA first-quarter sales decline no larger than management warned, an unchanged fiscal 2027 outlook and lower net debt pass; a cut to the sales or earnings outlook fails.Outcome: Clorox kept its sales and adjusted EPS ranges, but it now expects EPS near the low end, it cut the gross margin outlook to about 41.5% and net debt rose a little to $4.97 billion, so the pass conditions did not all hold.
3. Feb 2, 2027 · est.Pending

   Fiscal Q2 2027 earnings: margin repair and GOJOGross margin in line with the new outlook of about 41.5%, GOJO profit in line with plan and lower net debt pass; a guidance cut or a new credit downgrade fails.
4. Q2 2027 · est.Pending

   New CEO's plan for GOJO and debtA plan that keeps the target of about 2.5 times EBITDA by the end of calendar 2027 and a clear GOJO plan passes; a later debt target or a cut to the outlook fails.
5. Dec 2027 · est.Pending

   Leverage back near 2.5 times EBITDANet leverage near 2.5 times by the end of calendar 2027 passes; leverage still above 3.5 times fails.

Every passed and failed checkpoint across all picks

• November 2, 2026Clorox reported Q1 fiscal 2027 results. Net sales rose 33% to $1.91 billion, and GOJO added about 15 points. Organic sales rose 18%, and about 18 points of that came from the easy comparison with the ERP inventory drawdown a year earlier. Gross margin fell 1.3 points to 40.4%, and adjusted EPS rose 82% to $1.55. Clorox kept its fiscal 2027 outlook for net sales growth of 13% to 14% and adjusted EPS of $5.70 to $6.00, but it now expects adjusted EPS closer to the low end. It cut its gross margin outlook to about 41.5% from about 42% because of higher input costs.
• October 28, 2026The board named Fabian Garcia as CEO and as a director from January 5, 2027. Since 2022 he has led the Personal Care business group of Unilever, and he was CEO of Revlon from 2016 to 2018. On that date, Linda Rendle leaves her roles as CEO, Chair and director, and she stays as a senior advisor until April 2, 2027. Lead Independent Director Matthew Shattock becomes Independent Chair.
• October 12, 2026Clorox confirmed that it will publish its first-quarter fiscal 2027 results on November 2, 2026, at 4:15 p.m. ET, with an analyst webcast at 5 p.m. ET.

Last earnings

November 2, 2026 (8-K on sec.gov)

Next earnings

Expected about February 2, 2027. The company has not confirmed the date.

• 10-QQuarterly report for the period ended Sep 30, 2026Filed November 2, 2026 · clx-20260930
• 8-KEarnings release and Investor disclosureFiled November 2, 2026 · Press release and exhibits
• 8-KChange of directors or officers and Investor disclosureFiled October 29, 2026 · Read it on sec.gov
• 10-KAnnual report for the period ended Jun 30, 2026Filed August 7, 2026 · clx-20260630
• 8-KEarnings release and Investor disclosureFiled August 3, 2026 · Press release and exhibits
• 8-KChange of directors or officers and Investor disclosureFiled June 17, 2026 · Read it on sec.gov
• 8-KChange of directors or officers and Investor disclosureFiled May 28, 2026 · Read it on sec.gov
• 8-KOther company newsFiled May 11, 2026 · clx-20260506
• 10-QQuarterly report for the period ended Mar 31, 2026Filed April 30, 2026 · clx-20260331
• 8-KEarnings release and Investor disclosureFiled April 30, 2026 · Press release and exhibits

Every filing on SEC EDGAR (CIK 21076)

• Debt for the GOJO purchase and the Glad joint-venture buyout raised net debt to $4.97 billion at September 30, 2026. That is about 3.8 times EBITDA of the four quarters to that date, by our calculation, or about 3.5 times on adjusted EBITDA. Clorox expected about 3.6 times when it signed the GOJO deal, but EBITDA fell. S&P already cut the credit rating once. Management's plan to reach about 2.5 times by the end of calendar 2027 needs earnings to recover.
• CEO Linda Rendle steps down for health reasons on January 5, 2027, and Fabian Garcia, who comes from Unilever, becomes CEO on that date. Clorox named a Chief Operating Officer in June 2026. The change of leader adds risk while Clorox integrates GOJO and repairs sales after the ERP switchover.
• In November 2026, management said that input cost inflation is higher than it expected, and it cut the fiscal 2027 gross margin outlook to about 41.5%. It also says that consumers are under stress. Without the easy comparison with fiscal 2026, organic sales growth is about flat in the guidance. A weaker consumer or more trade-down to store brands can push sales and margin below the outlook.
• Store-brand pressure hurts the Household segment most. This segment includes trash bags and cat litter. In fiscal 2026 it earned only a 10.7% margin and 16% of segment profit, but it is Clorox's second-largest segment by sales.
• Walmart bought 26% of Clorox's products in fiscal 2026. A change in Walmart's orders, shelf space or store-brand plans has a large effect on Clorox's sales.
• The lawsuit for about $380 million against Cognizant continues, but no trial date is public. A payment, if any, is probably years away, so the suit does not help the debt plan in the near term.

Clorox borrowed to buy GOJO for about $2.15 billion in April 2026, and the debt now limits its choices. Most of its debt is unsecured debt of the parent company. Read more

Yield at the current rate

4.7% (current annual rate, at today’s price)

Dividend yield

4.7% (last 12 months, at today’s price of $106.86)

Paid per share

$4.98 in the last 12 months (4 payments)

Current annual rate

$5.00 ($1.25 × 4 a year)

Payout ratio

75% of the last fiscal year’s earnings (the year that ended June 30, 2025)

Latest ex-dividend date

October 28, 2026, $1.25 per share

Dividends per share by year

From 2020 to 2025, the dividend grew by about 2.5% a year. From 2015 to 2025, the dividend grew by about 5.0% a year.

Source: company filings and market data, read on November 13, 2026. The ex-dividend date is the first day a buyer no longer gets the next payment.