Clorox's GOJO Bet Is Paying Off, and the Numbers Finally Prove It

Clorox just posted one of its strongest quarters in years, and almost none of the growth came from Clorox products. Net sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2027 rose 33 percent to $1.91 billion, but roughly 15 points of that came from GOJO, the Purell maker Clorox acquired, and most of the rest came from lapping last year's ERP-related inventory drawdown rather than new demand. Strip out the noise and organic sales were still up 18 percent, which is the kind of number a consumer-products company doesn't post by accident.

The Health and Wellness segment, now carrying GOJO, grew sales 62 percent to $918 million, with adjusted EBIT up 69 percent. Household products grew a more modest 17 percent, and gross margin slipped 130 basis points to 40.4 percent as commodity and logistics costs crept back up. Diluted EPS more than doubled to $1.39. Chair and CEO Linda Rendle called it "better-than-expected results through strong execution and timing benefits," while flagging that the cost environment is turning less friendly.

Rendle is still the one saying it, but she's on a clock: Unilever veteran Fabian Garcia takes over as CEO in January, inheriting a business that just proved the GOJO bet can work and a cost environment that's about to test whether it keeps working. Clorox held its full-year EPS guidance at $5.70 to $6.00 but said it now expects to land near the low end. That's not the kind of sentence a new CEO wants waiting for him on his first day.

Source: StockTitan

Kyle Duford, Founder & Editor, BRNDWIRE. More from Kyle →