The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) shares fell almost 6% on Thursday after the company cut its guidance, reflecting the impact of a cybersecurity attack over the summer.
Clorox shares were down 5.8% at US$124.25 on Thursday afternoon.
The company forecast a loss per share in the range of 35 cents to 75 cents, or a loss per share of 40 cents to breakeven on an adjusted basis, for the quarter ending September 30, compared to a FactSet estimate of $1.29 earnings per share.
Net sales are expected to decrease by between 23% and 28% from the year-ago quarter and organic sales are now expected to fall by 21% to 26% for the quarter, compared to the company’s prior expectations of mid-single-digits growth.
“This is 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,” it said.
“Shipment and consumption trends prior to the cybersecurity attack were in line with the company’s prior expectations,” Clorox added.
Gross margin is now expected to be down from the year-ago quarter compared to the company’s prior expectations for gross margin to be up, as the impact of the cybersecurity attack more than offset the benefits of pricing, cost savings and supply chain optimization, it said.
The firm expects to experience ongoing, but lessening, operational impacts in the second quarter as it makes progress in returning to normalized operations.
It also expects to begin to benefit from the restocking of retailer inventories as it ramps up fulfillment in the second quarter.
- Updated with share price movement -