Clorox profit tops estimates, shares rise

(Reuters) - Clorox Co (CLX.N) reported a much higher-than-expected quarterly profit, aided by cost cuts and a decision to raise prices on bleach and other goods.

The 99-year-old company best known for its namesake bleach raised the U.S. price of bleach by 12 percent last August, to help fight rising material costs that have cut into profits.

Clorox, whose products include cleansers, charcoal, salad dressing and water filters, is more heavily exposed to volatile commodity prices than some larger peers including Procter & Gamble Co (PG.N). The commodities Clorox buys include resin, diesel, chlor-alkali and sodium hypochlorite.

It also raised prices of other products, such as Formula 409 cleaning spray and Glad plastic wrap, last year.

Clorox's earnings from continuing operations rose to $105 million, or 79 cents per share, in the fiscal second quarter that ended in December, from $95 million, or 68 cents per share, a year earlier. Earnings in the latest quarter were the same on a net basis.

Analysts were looking for a profit of 68 cents a share, before one-time items, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Sales rose about 3.6 percent to $1.22 billion.

Clorox said it still expects to earn $4.00 to $4.10 per share this year, including the impact of two recent healthcare acquisitions. Sales are now expected to rise 2 percent to 4 percent, versus a prior forecast for 1 percent to 3 percent growth.

Shares of Clorox jumped to $70.59 in premarket trading, up from Thursday's closing price of $68.73.

(Reporting by Jessica Wohl in Chicago and Dhanya Skariachan in New York; Editing by Derek Caney)