Clorox Company (The) (CLX) Stock Price & How to Invest

The Clorox Company is a US consumer-staples business that sells everyday household and personal-care products through four segments: Health and Wellness (Clorox cleaning and disinfecting, professional products, plus vitamins and supplements), Household (Glad bags and wraps, Kingsford charcoal, Fresh Step and Scoop Away cat litter), Lifestyle (Hidden Valley dressings, Brita water filtration, Burt's Bees natural personal care), and International. Because these are low-cost, repeat-purchase staples, demand is relatively stable across economic cycles, which is why Clorox has long been treated as a defensive holding and a dividend aristocrat with decades of consecutive annual increases.

The recent story is dominated by disruption and recovery rather than the brands themselves. After the August 2023 cyberattack, Clorox rebuilt operations and pressed ahead with a multi-year, roughly $500 million-plus digital and ERP transformation. In fiscal 2025 the transition pulled forward shipments as retailers built inventory ahead of the cutover, flattering results, and management flagged that this benefit would reverse in fiscal 2026. Early in fiscal 2026 an elongated ERP ramp-up caused Clorox to lose more market share than expected and pressured sales, and guidance called for a meaningful net-sales decline for the year. Management frames the project as largely complete and now a source of efficiency, shifting focus to rebuilding momentum, restoring shelf presence, and expanding margins through cost savings.

The near-term risk is execution: the ERP transition already caused lost market share and a guided net-sales decline, and any further disruption or slow recovery of shelf presence would delay the rebound. Clorox competes against much larger, better-resourced rivals (P&G, Church & Dwight, Colgate-Palmolive, Kimberly-Clark, Reckitt) plus private-label and value brands that can pressure pricing and volume when consumers trade down. Input-cost inflation (resins, commodities, freight) and currency swings in the International segment can compress margins. As a mature staple, growth is modest, so a premium valuation leaves little room for missteps. Category-specific shocks, such as demand normalizing after pandemic-era cleaning spikes, can weigh on volumes. Finally, the dividend, while long-growing, depends on cash flow recovering as one-time transition benefits reverse.

17 analysts publish price targets on CLX, averaging $102.35 against a $95.53 price as of August 2026, or +7.1%. The published targets run from $77.00 to $155.00, a wide spread, and the ratings split 1 buy, 14 hold, 4 sell. Over the last six months there have been 2 raises and 10 cuts among the published actions. A price target is what an analyst published on a date, not a prediction, and sell-side ratings skew positive across the whole market.

Read the full CLX forecast and price target for the target table, the recent rating actions by firm, and how the consensus has shifted.

We give no verdict on Clorox Company (The). Both cases are real, which is why the question is contested at all, so here is the strongest version of each.

The case for buying. Defensive staple with durable brands. Clorox sells low-ticket, frequently repurchased essentials (bleach, wipes, trash bags, dressings, water filters) that hold up better than discretionary goods in downturns. The most optimistic published target, $155.00, assumes this works close to its best case.

The case against. The near-term risk is execution: the ERP transition already caused lost market share and a guided net-sales decline, and any further disruption or slow recovery of shelf presence would delay the rebound. The most pessimistic target, $77.00, is roughly what CLX is worth if this bites instead.

Read the full bull and bear case on CLX, including what would have to change to break either one. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

A simple financial snapshot. These are approximations and refresh quarterly; for current figures see Clorox Company (The)'s investor relations page or your broker.

• Business model: Consumer staples: household cleaning, food, water filtration, natural personal care, cat litter, grilling; sold through four segments
• Revenue scale: Multi-billion-dollar annual net sales; fiscal 2026 guided to a meaningful decline as ERP pull-forward shipments reverse (verify latest figures live)
• Earnings trend: Adjusted EPS was boosted in fiscal 2025 by transition-related shipments; that benefit reverses in fiscal 2026, so reported comparisons are noisy (check current results)
• Margins: Gross-margin rebuilding via cost savings and pricing is a core management focus; qualitative, confirm the latest trend
• Dividend: Dividend aristocrat with decades of consecutive annual increases; yield has recently screened relatively high for the stock (verify current yield and payout)
• Valuation style: Trades as a defensive staple; multiples tend to reflect stability and the dividend rather than growth. Verify live P/E and yield

All figures here are qualitative and tied to the asOf date; Clorox reports on a fiscal year ending in June, and recent results are distorted by ERP-transition shipment timing, so headline growth and EPS comparisons can mislead without adjusting for that. Confirm live revenue, adjusted EPS, margin, dividend yield, and valuation multiples with a current source before acting. Nothing here is a price target or a recommendation.

Other names that sit close to CLX: same theme, named as a direct competitor, or held beside it in the same funds. Each entry says which. Worth a look if you are thinking about diversification within a thesis rather than concentration on one ticker.

There are three common ways to get CLX exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) directly at any major broker. Hold an ETF that includes it, which spreads the position across many companies. Or build it into a focused thematic portfolio, so CLX sits alongside other stocks that express the same thesis.

Walnut takes the portfolio route. Describe a thesis where CLX fits (for example “AI infrastructure” or “dividend-growth large-caps”) and the AI proposes 5 to 6 constituents with target weights. You review the plan and fund it through your own broker when you're ready.

New to this? Start with how to invest in stocks, see how to analyze a stock with AI, or compare the best AI stock analyzers.

Clorox is a defensive consumer-staples dividend name with durable everyday brands, now emerging from a costly ERP transition that distorted recent results. The debate is whether margin recovery and steady payouts outweigh soft near-term sales and lost market share, not whether the brands endure.

Whether CLX is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, what would have to go right, and the risks in is CLX a buy or a sell?, and where the stock could go from here in the CLX stock forecast.

For income investors, whether CLX pays a dividend and how the payout looks is covered in does CLX pay a dividend? And to weigh CLX against a peer, read the full side-by-side comparisons: CLX vs PG and CLX vs CL.