Clorox stock rallies 8% after company's results beat estimates despite cyberattack

By Bill Peters

Cyberattack caused 'wide-scale disruptions,' CEO says

Clorox Co. late Wednesday cut its full-year outlook in the wake of a cyberattack that upended its operations, but the stock jumped after hours as the cleaning-products maker reported fiscal first-quarter results that weren't as bad as expected.

Clorox (CLX) earned $25 million, or 17 cents a share, in the quarter, compared with $87 million, or 68 cents a share, in the same quarter last year. Revenue slid to $1.39 billion from $1.74 billion, after the attack in August disrupted how much product it could sell.

Adjusted for the costs associated with the breach, as well as investments in "productivity enhancements," Clorox earned 49 cents a share.

Analysts polled by FactSet expected an adjusted loss per share of 24 cents on revenue of $1.31 billion.

Shares were up 9% after hours on Wednesday.

The attack, which Clorox had previously warned about, forced the company to handle some orders manually and to run its production at a reduced rate.

Still, the company said it expected full-year sales to be down "mid- to high single digits," compared to prior estimates for sales that were "flat to up 2%."

And it said it expected adjusted earnings per share to be between $4.30 and $4.80, compared to prior estimates for $5.60 to $5.90.

"After entering the fiscal year with solid momentum, the August cyberattack caused wide-scale disruptions that are impacting our short-term financial performance," Chief Executive Linda Rendle said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Looking forward, our near-term priorities are clear: We are laser focused on rebuilding customer inventories, preserving merchandising activities, and ultimately rebuilding distribution and market share," she continued.

Shares of Clorox are down 18.9% so far this year, contrasting with gains of around 10% for the S&P 500 index SPX.

-Bill Peters

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11-01-23 1757ET

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