Can Clorox's Strategic Initiatives & Pricing Power Growth?

The Clorox Company’s CLX holistic margin-management efforts, constant product innovations and IGNITE strategy progress well. Clorox is effectively capitalizing its pricing strength to support growth and mitigate cost pressures. The company is benefiting from ongoing efforts to improve efficiency across manufacturing and logistics, as well as from portfolio changes like the VMS divestiture.

The company has been proactively adjusting its pricing strategy to address inflation and shifting consumer behaviors. CLX’s multi-faceted pricing policy includes premium pricing for its core brands, with a focus on premiumization and value for consumers. Our model anticipates price/mix/other to grow 0.1% in fiscal 2026.

Clorox has strategically leveraged advanced analytics to identify price inflection points, with a “dual pricing” strategy that selectively reduces prices on value-sensitive SKUs while increasing promotional support on higher-margin products. This approach enables the company to balance affordability for consumers with sustained profitability, reinforcing gross margin expansion amid soft volume trends.

Clorox continues to deliver impressive results, benefiting from disciplined pricing actions, a comprehensive margin-management program and cost-saving initiatives that have steadily bolstered margins. It delivered flat gross margin in fourth-quarter fiscal 2025, following an expansion for ten straight quarters in the preceding quarter. CLX’s streamlined operating model targets improving efficiency. It demonstrated broad-based segment strength in fourth-quarter fiscal 2025, with all three core business units posting solid year-over-year growth, 

CLX has been evaluating potential reformulations with product improvements and select strategic pricing actions. The company concentrates on offering superior value to consumers by investing in its brands and making innovations. Clorox remains focused on advancing its transformation to become a strong and resilient company.

CLX’s Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates

Shares of Clorox have lost 24.7% year to date compared with the industry’s decline of 8.1%.

From a valuation standpoint, CLX trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 19.73X compared with the industry’s average of 19.12X.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CLX’s fiscal 2026 earnings implies a year-over-year decline of 21.5%, while that of fiscal 2027 shows growth of 14.1%. The company’s EPS estimate for fiscal 2026 and fiscal 2027 has been stable in the past 30 days.

Clorox stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

Stocks to Consider in the Consumer Staples Space

The Chefs' Warehouse, Inc. CHEF distributes specialty food and center-of-the-plate products in the United States, the Middle East and Canada. It currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. 

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for The Chefs' Warehouse’s current financial-year sales and earnings indicates growth of 6.6% and 19.1%, respectively, from the prior-year levels. CHEF delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 11.3%, on average.

Celsius Holdings, Inc. CELH, which is specialized in nutritional functional foods, beverages and dietary supplements, starches and nutrition ingredients, currently sports a Zacks Rank of 1.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Celsius’ current financial-year earnings is expected to rise 54.3% from the corresponding year-ago reported figure. CELH delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 5.4%, on average.

Post Holdings POST, which is a consumer-packaged goods holding company, currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). POST delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 21.4%, on average. 

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Post Holdings’ current financial-year earnings indicates growth of 11% from the year-ago number. 

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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