Analyst Round-up: Clorox Q4 Earnings

On Friday The Clorox Co CLX reported its fiscal fourth quarter earnings. In response, a number of analysts have published reports Monday morning describing their revised outlook for the company. Sentiment from a few firms can be found below. For the quarter Clorox reported revenue of $1.51 billion compared to a $1.52 billion consensus and an EPS of $1.30 compared to a consensus of $1.38. B. Riley - Neutral, $77 "Clorox is over-valued based on fundamentals, in our view". B. Riley lowered its fiscal-year 2015 EPS estimated from $4.48 to $4.40 and its calendar-year 2015 EPS from $4.64 to $4.55. Deutsche Bank - Hold, $90 "Facing the same weak consumption trends and high promotional activity, made worse by distribution and share losses, company has clearly hit a soft patch and is looking for ways to reverse sobering recent trends. While company's proven strategy of winning bug in smaller categories remains compelling, we believe stock is fairly valued relative to growth prospects with competition showing few signs of letting up." Morgan Stanley - Underweight, $83 "We view Clorox as clearly overvalued relative to near-term EPS risk with weak category growth and a competitive environment, as well as long-term with muted growth potential given its skew to lower growth geographies and product categories." Credit Suisse - Underperform, $78 "Fiscal-year 2014 was a challenging year for Clorox and the company finished the year with a modestly disappointing result as EPS fell $0.05 short of expectations and organic sales growth was only 0.5 percent."