Clorox's FY2027 outlook is cautious, reflecting muted category growth amid persistent value-seeking consumer behavior and elevated inflation. Management is guiding to flat organic sales growth and a lower gross margin (42%) due to higher input costs, offset by productivity and targeted pricing. FY2027 organic sales growth expected flat to slightly positive, with Q1 impacted negatively by grilling season timing and promotional shifts.
Buzzberg readFiscal 2027 inflation expected above $200 million, double historical range.Clorox's FY2027 outlook is cautious, reflecting muted category growth amid persistent value-seeking consumer behavior and elevated inflation. Management is guiding to flat organic sales growth and a lower gross margin (42%) due to higher input costs, offset by productivity and targeted pricing. FY2027 organic sales growth expected flat to slightly positive, with Q1 impacted negatively by grilling season timing and promotional shifts.Read full analysisCollapse analysis
Clorox's FY2027 outlook is cautious, reflecting muted category growth amid persistent value-seeking consumer behavior and elevated inflation. Management is guiding to flat organic sales growth and a lower gross margin (42%) due to higher input costs, offset by productivity and targeted pricing. FY2027 organic sales growth expected flat to slightly positive, with Q1 impacted negatively by grilling season timing and promotional shifts.
Gross margin expected at 42% due to inflation, temporarily above the historical range; margin growth deferred to the back half of the year.
GOJO (Purell) integration ahead of plan, accretive in Q4 and expected to be a mid-to-high single-digit growth asset in the near term.
Company calls out recovery in Glad Trash and Hidden Valley Ranch, while acknowledging cat litter remains a work in progress.
Reported gross margin was 41.27%, reinforcing the quarter's better-than-guided profitability.
02
Operations
ERP implementation complete; benefits to ramp later this year and next.
FY2027 organic sales growth expected flat to slightly positive, with Q1 impacted negatively by grilling season timing and promotional shifts.
03
Market Share
Litter remains early innings; more innovation in back half.
Gross margin expected at 42% due to inflation, temporarily above the historical range; margin growth deferred to the back half of the year.
04
M&A
GOJO performing ahead of plan, accretive to EPS in FY27.
GOJO (Purell) integration ahead of plan, accretive in Q4 and expected to be a mid-to-high single-digit growth asset in the near term.
Demand
Demand
Bookings & conversion
Guidance is cautious, assuming continued muted category growth and pervasive value-seeking behavior. The company plans to offset with targeted investments in superiority, but the top-line outlook is flat to slightly positive.
Tone · Measured
Management acknowledged softness and challenges but emphasized sequential improvements and confidence in their strategy.
Supply-chain alpha
A1
Retailers in the grilling category shifted promotional strategy toward smaller pack sizes to target value-seeking consumers, which contributed to a category decline and hurt Kingsford's share.
“retailers made some choices on merchandising to go after value shopping consumers and put smaller sizes on deal. We'll correct that next year because it's actually better to load consumers earlier in the season”
Inflationary pressures are now spreading beyond just commodity inputs to broader supply chain categories like ocean freight, trucking, and other logistics expenses, making the overall $200M inflation estimate for FY2027 more persistent and less predictable.
“While commodities remain a significant driver, we are also seeing inflation across a broader areas of supply chain, including supplier costs, ocean freight, trucking costs, and other logistic related expenses.”
Management indirectly references competitive promotional pressure in trash bags (a key Glad category where P&G also competes), impacting category growth and pricing dynamics.
“retailers made some choices on merchandising to go after value shopping consumers and put smaller sizes on deal.”
Hi. Good afternoon, everyone. So Linda, maybe just picking up on Peter's question, from a market share standpoint, can you give us an update where you feel you've made the most progress so far from a category, at the category level, where you think there's more room to go in fiscal 27? And is the expectation to exit the year with some share gains? Like, help us understand a bit the market share trajectory as you think about fiscal 27. Thank you.
… business continue to deliver share growth. We're at eight consecutive quarters of share growth in home care. We continue to see strong share growth in our pro and international businesses. And then really importantly, we saw market share turnarounds in GLAAD behind our reinvestment in superiority across a number of levers. And so we saw trash grow in Q4. And then importantly, despite the category still being a bit soft, we saw the turnaround of share for Hidden Valley Ranch behind all the actions we took on innovation, price pack architecture, marketing spend, and our activation against the World Cup. And we want to continue to make that progress in 27. And all of those businesses have strong innovation plans, have strong brand investments. And so we continue to expect those businesses to perform from a market share perspective heading into 27. We want to continue to make progress in other areas. So of note would be litter. where if you look at the most recent weeks, some of the incremental actions we've taken to improve superiority are leading to a better trend on market share, but we're far from where we want to be on that business, and we knew that this transformation would take time, but we'd expect to make progress on that. And then as well as Kingsford, maybe I'll just go ahead and talk about the season for Kingsford right now. I think that would be helpful. So if you look at the category from a grilling perspective across all fuel types, including pellets for the first time, the category declined. And this was largely and mostly due to weather-related issues on major holidays. So Memorial Day was unseasonably chilly and wet across most of the US. And then for July 4th, 185 million Americans were under heat advisory, and almost 150 daily city temperature highs were broken during July 4th weekend. We saw less grilling behavior from consumers and that significantly impacted the category. In addition, retailers made some choices on merchandising to go after value shopping consumers and put smaller sizes on deal. We'll correct that next year because it's actually better to load consumers earlier in the season and so that was a learning and we won't repeat that next year. So that is what you're seeing in the category and share results for Kingsford but we would expect that to also improve as we head into season year 27 that'll start in March of next year.
The recovery of Hidden Valley Ranch share signals a win against competitors in the salad dressing category, which may pressure competitor performance in the near term.
“we saw the turnaround of share for Hidden Valley Ranch behind all the actions we took on innovation, price pack architecture, marketing spend”
Hi. Good afternoon, everyone. So Linda, maybe just picking up on Peter's question, from a market share standpoint, can you give us an update where you feel you've made the most progress so far from a category, at the category level, where you think there's more room to go in fiscal 27? And is the expectation to exit the year with some share gains? Like, help us understand a bit the market share trajectory as you think about fiscal 27. Thank you.
Sure, Filippo. So starting in aggregate, again, we saw a sequential improvement if you looked at fiscal year 26 from Q1 to Q4. With getting close to flat, we're down a tenth of a share point in aggregate. And that was due to a number of businesses continuing to perform from a share perspective. We saw our home care business continue to deliver share growth. We're at eight consecutive quarters of share growth in home care. We continue to see strong share growth in our pro and international businesses. And then really importantly, we saw market share turnarounds in GLAAD behind our reinvestment in superiority across a number of levers. And so we saw trash grow in Q4. And then importantly, despite the category still being a bit soft, we saw the turnaround of share for Hidden Valley Ranch behind all the actions we took on innovation, price pack architecture, marketing spend, and our activation against the World Cup. And we want to continue to make that progress in 27. And all of those businesses have strong innovation plans, have strong brand investments. And so we continue to expect those businesses to perform from a market share perspective heading into 27. We want to continue to make progress in other areas. So of note would be litter. where if you look at the most recent weeks, some of the incremental actions we've taken to improve superiority are leading to a better trend on market share, but we're far from where we want to be on that business, and we knew that this transformation would take time, but we'd expect to make progress on that. And then as well as Kingsford, maybe I'll just go ahead and talk about the season for Kingsford right now. I think that would be helpful. So if you look at the category from a grilling perspective across all fuel types, including pellets for the first time, the category declined. And this was largely and mostly due to weather-related issues on major holidays. So Memorial Day was unseasonably chilly and wet across most of the US. And then for July 4th, 185 million Americans were under heat advisory, and almost 150 daily city temperature highs were broken during July 4th weekend. We saw less grilling behavior from consumers and that significantly impacted the category. In addition, retailers made some choices on merchandising to go after value shopping consumers and put smaller sizes on deal. We'll correct that next year …
Retailers in the grilling category shifted promotional strategy toward smaller pack sizes to target value-seeking consumers, which contributed to a category decline and hurt Kingsford's share. — This indicates a retailer-led shift in promotional mechanics that could impact how grilling companies plan their seasonal volume and trade spend.
Hi. Good afternoon, everyone. So Linda, maybe just picking up on Peter's question, from a market share standpoint, can you give us an update where you feel you've made the most progress so far from a category, at the category level, where you think there's more room to go in fiscal 27? And is the expectation to exit the year with some share gains? Like, help us understand a bit the market share trajectory as you think about fiscal 27. Thank you.
… business continue to deliver share growth. We're at eight consecutive quarters of share growth in home care. We continue to see strong share growth in our pro and international businesses. And then really importantly, we saw market share turnarounds in GLAAD behind our reinvestment in superiority across a number of levers. And so we saw trash grow in Q4. And then importantly, despite the category still being a bit soft, we saw the turnaround of share for Hidden Valley Ranch behind all the actions we took on innovation, price pack architecture, marketing spend, and our activation against the World Cup. And we want to continue to make that progress in 27. And all of those businesses have strong innovation plans, have strong brand investments. And so we continue to expect those businesses to perform from a market share perspective heading into 27. We want to continue to make progress in other areas. So of note would be litter. where if you look at the most recent weeks, some of the incremental actions we've taken to improve superiority are leading to a better trend on market share, but we're far from where we want to be on that business, and we knew that this transformation would take time, but we'd expect to make progress on that. And then as well as Kingsford, maybe I'll just go ahead and talk about the season for Kingsford right now. I think that would be helpful. So if you look at the category from a grilling perspective across all fuel types, including pellets for the first time, the category declined. And this was largely and mostly due to weather-related issues on major holidays. So Memorial Day was unseasonably chilly and wet across most of the US. And then for July 4th, 185 million Americans were under heat advisory, and almost 150 daily city temperature highs were broken during July 4th weekend. We saw less grilling behavior from consumers and that significantly impacted the category. In addition, retailers made some choices on merchandising to go after value shopping consumers and put smaller sizes on deal. We'll correct that next year because it's actually better to load consumers earlier in the season and so that was a learning and we won't repeat that next year. So that is what you're seeing in the category and share results for Kingsford but we would expect that to also improve as we head into season year 27 that'll start in March of next year.
Inflationary pressures are now spreading beyond just commodity inputs to broader supply chain categories like ocean freight, trucking, and other logistics expenses, making the overall $200M inflation estimate for FY2027 more persistent and less predictable. — This signals that inflation is becoming a broader logistics issue, which could translate into higher freight costs for shippers and pricing power for logistics providers.
Great, thank you. And then one question for Luc. At the gross margin line, can you remind us what is your expectation in terms of commodity costs for the year and the commodity headwind and what assumption you have from oil prices for the year? Thank you.
Sure, Filippo. We expect fiscal year 27 inflation to be above $200 million. So for perspective, it's about more than double our historical range, which has been in the $75 to $100 million. Now, clearly, the current geopolitical backdrop continues to create volatility across energy, commodity, and supply chain markets. So Outlook assume an average for Brent crude oil at about $90 per barrel. But importantly, it's not just energy or commodity stories. While commodities remain a significant driver, we are also seeing inflation across a broader areas of supply chain, including supplier costs, ocean freight, trucking costs, and other logistic related expenses. So as a result, it's fair to say that inflationary pressures are proving more persistent and should extend well beyond what is just reflected in the headline for the oil price. The last thing I would mention is there's a dynamic from a timing standpoint. We expect the impact of the inflation to be more pronounced in the first half of fiscal year 27.
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