By Christopher Kuo

Clorox cut its full-year earnings guidance, citing the impact of transaction costs from acquiring Purell-maker Gojo coupled with long-term investments.

The cleaning-products maker on Thursday lowered its outlook for earnings per share to $4.78 to $4.98 for the year, down from previous guidance of $5.60 to $5.95.

Its view for full-year adjusted earnings per share was lowered to a range of $5.45 to $5.65, down from a previous range of adjusted earnings per share of $5.95 to $6.30.

The company said the new guidance reflects increased costs from the acquisition of Gojo Industries, which was completed April 1. Clorox also said it began investing about $580 million in new digital capabilities and productivity improvements beginning in fiscal year 2022 up until the third quarter of the current fiscal year.

Clorox updated its full-year sales outlook due to factors including shipping about two weeks of inventory ahead of consumption.

The company now expects net sales to be down about 6% in 2026, compared with previous guidance of sales down between 6% to 10% for the full year. Analysts polled by FactSet are expecting full-year revenue of $6.51 billion and adjusted per-share earnings of $5.87.

Clorox on Thursday posted a third-quarter profit of $187 million, or $1.54 a share, compared with $186 million, or $1.50 a share, a year earlier.

Adjusted earnings per share for the quarter came in at $1.64, beating the $1.55 that analysts polled by FactSet had expected. The company said the increase in adjusted earnings was driven by cost savings, lower advertising investments and lower selling and administrative expenses.

Third quarter sales were flat at $1.67 billion compared with the same quarter a year earlier, matching Wall Street's estimate of $1.67 billion.

"We recognize there is more work to do in what continues to be a challenging consumer and cost environment," said Chief Executive Linda Rendle.

Clorox saw third-quarter sales decline by 9% in its lifestyle products sector, driven by lower volume due to tepid consumption and retail inventory adjustments. Household product sales increased 3%, while health and wellness sales were flat.

International sales increased 8%, driven mainly by favorable foreign exchange rates and higher volume.

Write to Christopher Kuo at chris.kuo@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 30, 2026 16:16 ET (20:16 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.