: Clorox’s stock rises on J.P. Morgan upgrade to neutral from underweight

Clorox Co.’s stock CLX rose by 1.7% in premarket trading on Wednesday after J.P. Morgan upgraded the bleach and cleaning products maker to neutral from underweight and also lifted its price target to $145 a share from $124. Analyst Andrea Teixeira said J.P. Morgan is seeing improvement in tracked channel demand. For its fiscal second-quarter 2024, J.P. Morgan expects Clorox to beat analyst consensus estimates for profit margin and earnings per share, after the most recent quarter fared better than expected despite a cybersecurity breach. Higher shipments and better cost absorption drove results. Looking ahead, analysts remain “cautious “on Clorox’s ability to recover all market share losses. Ahead of Wednesday’s trades, Clorox’s stock has fallen by 0.7% in 2023, compared with an 18.2% rise by the S&P 500 SPX.

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