Consumer products giant Clorox (NYSE:CLX) fell short of the market’s revenue expectations in Q1 CY2025, with sales falling 8% year on year to $1.67 billion. Its non-GAAP profit of $1.45 per share was 6.9% below analysts’ consensus estimates.
Is now the time to buy Clorox? Find out by accessing our full research report, it’s free.
Clorox (CLX) Q1 CY2025 Highlights:
- Revenue: $1.67 billion vs analyst estimates of $1.72 billion (8% year-on-year decline, 3.3% miss)
- Adjusted EPS: $1.45 vs analyst expectations of $1.56 (6.9% miss)
- Management reiterated its full-year Adjusted EPS guidance of $7.15 at the midpoint
- Operating Margin: 15.2%, up from 12.9% in the same quarter last year
- Organic Revenue fell 2% year on year (2% in the same quarter last year)
- Market Capitalization: $17.13 billion
"In the third quarter, heightened macroeconomic uncertainties drove changes in shopping behaviors, resulting in temporary category slowdowns and lower sales. We expect these slowdowns to persist in the fourth quarter, as reflected in our updated outlook," said Chair and CEO Linda Rendle.
Company Overview
Founded in 1913 with bleach as the sole product offering, Clorox (NYSE:CLX) today is a consumer products giant whose product portfolio spans everything from bleach to skincare to salad dressing to kitty litter.
Sales Growth
Examining a company’s long-term performance can provide clues about its quality. Any business can put up a good quarter or two, but the best consistently grow over the long haul.
With $7.02 billion in revenue over the past 12 months, Clorox is one of the larger consumer staples companies and benefits from a well-known brand that influences purchasing decisions. However, its scale is a double-edged sword because there are only a finite number of major retail partners, placing a ceiling on its growth. To expand meaningfully, Clorox likely needs to tweak its prices, innovate with new products, or enter new markets.
As you can see below, Clorox struggled to increase demand as its $7.02 billion of sales for the trailing 12 months was close to its revenue three years ago. This shows demand was soft, a tough starting point for our analysis.
This quarter, Clorox missed Wall Street’s estimates and reported a rather uninspiring 8% year-on-year revenue decline, generating $1.67 billion of revenue.
Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 1.9% over the next 12 months. Although this projection indicates its newer products will catalyze better top-line performance, it is still below average for the sector.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, it should be obvious by now that generative AI is going to have a huge impact on how large corporations do business. While Nvidia and AMD are trading close to all-time highs, we prefer a lesser-known (but still profitable) stock benefiting from the rise of AI. Click here to access our free report one of our favorites growth stories.
Organic Revenue Growth
When analyzing revenue growth, we care most about organic revenue growth. This metric captures a business’s performance excluding one-time events such as mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures as well as foreign currency fluctuations.
Clorox has generated solid demand for its products over the last two years. On average, the company’s organic sales have grown by 5.1% year on year. 
In the latest quarter, Clorox’s organic sales fell by 2% year on year. This decline was a reversal from its historical levels. We’ll keep a close eye on the company to see if this turns into a longer-term trend.
Key Takeaways from Clorox’s Q1 Results
Clorox's organic revenue missed and its revenue fell short of Wall Street’s estimates. Additionally, EPS also missed. The company attempted to reassure the market by reiterating its full-year EPS guidance, but it wasn't enough. Overall, this quarter could have been better. The stock traded down 3.3% to $133.80 immediately after reporting.
Clorox didn’t show it’s best hand this quarter, but does that create an opportunity to buy the stock right now? The latest quarter does matter, but not nearly as much as longer-term fundamentals and valuation, when deciding if the stock is a buy. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here, it’s free.