Clorox Doesn't See Need For Any Further Price Rollbacks

Clorox Co. (CLX) doesn't expect it will need to take any further pricing rollbacks, Chief Financial Officer Dan Heinrich said at the company's analyst meeting Thursday.

"We're not anticipating anywhere else in the portfolio we are going to take pricing actions," Heinrich said. "We feel reasonably confident that all the other pricing we've taken will stick."

In May, Clorox said it would cut prices for its Glad trash bags for the second time in recent months to better compete in the category as prices of some commodities have come down. That move gave some analysts pause that the company would face pricing pressure in other key categories for the company, such as its namesake bleach and its disinfectant cleaners.

Consumer-product companies like Clorox have been roiled by volatile commodities prices for the past few years, and Clorox said it has absorbed commodity costs increases of nearly $600 million over the last five years, while it has raised prices more than 50 times. Key brands, like Glad trash bags and Clorox bleach, have had multiple price increases, Heinrich said.

For Glad trash bags specifically, Heinrich said the company has raised prices five times in recent years, with just two rollbacks in recent months.

"On a net basis, we're still up 30% on Glad," Heinrich said.

While the company doesn't expect to cut prices for now, Heinrich did say that if commodity costs on the whole continued to decline, they company would benefit, but if that were to happen, Clorox would also face some further price rollbacks by competitors. Overall, that would be a net positive for margins, he added.

Clorox shares were recently up 1.1% at $54.08.

-By Kelly Nolan, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-4049; [e-mail]