Clorox Co's (CLX.N) fourth-quarter profit fell less than expected as it absorbed higher material costs and repurchased shares, and said it is raising some U.S. prices this month, including an average price hike of 12 percent on its namesake liquid bleach. The company, which last month rebuffed two takeover offers from Carl Icahn, also said on Wednesday that it expects commodity costs to rise less than it previously thought in the current fiscal year. Clorox, which makes cleansers, charcoal, salad dressing and other goods, is more heavily exposed to volatile commodity prices than some larger peers such as Procter & Gamble Co (PG.N). The commodities Clorox buys include resin, diesel, chlor-alkali and sodium hypochlorite. Besides the bleach price hike, the seven new U.S. price increases include mid-to-high single-digit percentage increases on Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing, Formula 409 and Clorox cleaners, Clorox 2 and Glad wraps.
The Clorox Company (Clorox) is a manufacturer and marketer of consumer and institutional products. Shares of CLX fell by 2.25% or $-1.58/share to $68.71. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $60.56 and as high as $75.44. On average, 1631400 shares of CLX exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 1023303.
The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is focused on providing consumer packaged goods. Shares of PG fell by 0.21% or $-0.13/share to $60.74. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $59.17 and as high as $67.72. On average, 9963930 shares of PG exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 3159922.
