Clorox Co. shares fell in the extended session Wednesday after the company slashed its outlook stemming from the impact of a cybersecurity attack over the summer.
Clorox
CLX,
shares fell about 3% after hours, following a 1.2% gain to close the regular session at $131.83. At Wednesday’s close, Clorox shares were down 6.1% for the year, while the S&P 500 index
SPX
has gained 11.1%.
The company forecast a loss of 75 cents to 35 cents a share, or a loss of 40 cents to break-even per share on an adjusted basis, for the quarter ending Sept. 30.
Also see: A stranger in your hotel room? Kitty-litter shortages? Online attacks are causing real-world effects.
Clorox said sales are expected to decrease by 28% to 23% from the year-ago first quarter of $1.74 billion, or in a range between $1.25 billion and $1.34 billion.
Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast first-quarter earnings of $1.29 a share on revenue of $1.77 billion.
In a statement late Wednesday, Clorox said the reduced outlook was “due to the impacts of the recent cybersecurity attack that was disclosed in August, which caused wide-scale disruption of Clorox’s operations, including order-processing delays and significant product outages.”
The company said shipment and consumption trends prior to the cyberattack factored in its prior forecast.
In early August, Clorox forecast sales in 2024 would be flat to 2% higher than 2023’s $7.39 billion, and adjusted earnings between $5.60 and $5.90 for the year, while analysts had expected $5.62 a share on revenue of $7.4 billion at the time.
Analysts currently forecast, on average, adjusted earnings of $5.78 a share on revenue of $7.5 billion.
Based on the company’s current assessment, Clorox said it expects “to experience ongoing, but lessening, operational impacts in the second quarter as it makes progress in returning to normalized operations,” and restocking retailers.
Analysts also forecast second-quarter earnings of $1.18 a share on revenue of $1.77 billion.
Clorox said it was “in the process of assessing the impact of the cybersecurity attack on fiscal-year 2024 and beyond,” and said it would provide an update during its first-quarter earnings call scheduled in November.
Back in mid-September, Clorox said the cyberattack would weigh on its results, and by the end of the month shares were on their longest losing streak since 2009.
Clorox shares have fallen nearly 18% since the company first disclosed the attack in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Aug. 14.
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