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Clorox (CLX) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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Clorox (CLX - Free Report) closed at $191.67 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.47% move from the prior day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 2.29%. At the same time, the Dow added 1.99%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 2.81%.

Coming into today, shares of the consumer products maker had gained 13.34% in the past month. In that same time, the Consumer Staples sector gained 15.66%, while the S&P 500 gained 19.13%.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from CLX as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be May 1, 2020. On that day, CLX is projected to report earnings of $1.60 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 11.11%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $1.64 billion, up 5.6% from the prior-year quarter.

CLX's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $6.50 per share and revenue of $6.35 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +2.85% and +2.21%, respectively.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for CLX. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 1.83% higher. CLX is currently a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

In terms of valuation, CLX is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 29.37. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 22.93, so we one might conclude that CLX is trading at a premium comparatively.

It is also worth noting that CLX currently has a PEG ratio of 5.61. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. Soap and Cleaning Materials stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 3.84 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Soap and Cleaning Materials industry is part of the Consumer Staples sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 43, which puts it in the top 17% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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