The Clorox Company (CLX) reported strong results for the first quarter of fiscal 2010 with earnings of $1.11 per share. Earnings were well above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 95 cents and up 23.3% year-over-year. Net sales for the quarter were almost flat year-over-year, declining marginally by 0.8%. The decline was primarily attributable to unfavorable foreign exchange rates, unfavorable product mix and higher trade-promotion spending. These factors were partially offset by the benefit of price increases, especially in the International segment. Total volume increased 1%, primarily due to higher shipments of disinfecting wipes and bottled salad dressing, which were largely offset by lower shipments of trash bags and the company's exit from its private-label food bags business. Segment-wise In the Cleaning segment, sales increased 3% and volumes grew 4%. Volume increase was driven by increased shipments of disinfecting products to meet demand associated with ...

Traders were back on the buying table Tuesday, adding to their holdings even as they remained glued to the Fed for its take on the economy, interest rates and inflation.  Banks and industrial companies led the advance as stocks zoomed to new highs for 2009.  Nevertheless, uncertainty remained if the Central Bank will offer any detail on an exit strategy. 

The 30-share Dow Jones industrial average finished higher by 51 points, or 0.52%, at 9,829.87. The broad Standard & Poor's 500-stock index gained 7 points, or 0.66%, at 1,071.66 and the technology-laden Nasdaq composite index gained 8.26 points, or 0.39%, to 2,146.30.  Treasury prices rallied after the government’s successful auction of $43 billion in two-year notes.

Meanwhile, dollar continued its downward spiral against other major currencies, sending energy and material shares higher.  Gold and crude prices also advanced.  Gold reached $1014 per ounce, up $12.50, and oil, after a

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Clorox Co. (CLX) reported fiscal fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.25 per share, topping the Zacks Consensus Estimate by more than 4%.

The consumer products maker said sales remained almost constant at $1.5 billion.

Total volumes fell 2% due to the impact of price increases and the company's exit from its private-label food bags business.

Meanwhile, Clorox continues to expect earnings between $4.00 and $4.15 per share for the year ending June 2010.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate is at $4.18 per share, derived from 14 covering analysts, which has remained steady over the past 2 months.

CLX, a Zacks #3 Rank ("Hold") stock, has slipped about 3% so far today on volume of nearly 2.9 million, which is greater than the average daily volume of about 1.25 million.

"CLX" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?Zacks Investment Research

Since the first day I started working in the stock and bond business, the old timers, who I have always sought out as a great source of advice, have said almost without exception, “The markets don’t change.”

This mantra was always in response to those in the business who, following a big run-up or downturn in the market, would make the claim that “it’s different this time.” This claim of new market rules usually was an effort to support buying at the top of a market, or buying when things seem over priced.

The former, the old timer’s advice, was, until now, always correct. Markets have always been the markets. They run up, they fall down. They always fall a lot faster than they go up and if you wait until everyone gets in to convince you its ok to do it you will lose money.

This time though I believe some

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The third-largest US automaker, Chrysler, filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday. The firm is expected to undergo a 30-60 day restructuring, receiving $8 billion in government funds and creating an alliance with Italian automaker Fiat, which managed its owned turnaround in the past 5 years.

Today's expected releases include: Allergan (NYSE:AGN), Chevron (NYSE:CVX), Clorox (NYSE:CLX), Dean Foods (NYSE:DF), and MasterCard (NYSE:MA).

Aon (NYSE:AOC) reported a first quarter as earnings at 76, 12 cents less than expected, along with a 2.7% revenue decline to $1.85 billion.

Dean Foods (NYSE:DF) reported first quarter results of 52 cents, 10 cents better than expected, as revenues dropped 12.2% to $2.7 billion with indications of a solid start to the second quarter.

Fortune Brands (NYSE:FO) reported first quarter results of $1.03, ahead of estimates by 8 cents notwithstanding revenues plunged 20.3% to $1.44 billion, as was expected.

Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) received an analyst upgrade from UBS (NYSE:UBS).

Goldman Sachs

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In theory, equity income investing creates a reasonably steady and growing income stream from stock investments — a good chance of maintaining real purchasing power of the stream.  That contrasts with bonds which create a more reliable, but constant income stream that has no chance of maintaining real purchasing power (inflation protected Treasuries and perhaps some variable rate bonds excepted).

In practice lately, however, the equity income theory isn’t working so well. Dividends are being cut at an historic rate, particularly among banks, but to some degree in other industries as well.

Dividend investing isn’t for everybody, but it is attractive and important to some, particularly those who rely on their portfolios to generate cash flow to support their lifestyle.

S&P Dividend Aristocrats:

Standard and Poor’s may even have to reduce the performance requirements for its Dividend Aristocrats (proxy SDY) to keep the index going.  Because the index rules require at least 40 issues,

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Nucor (NYSE: NUE) & The Golden Dividend Ratio

There has been a lot of talk about value traps recently. With dozens of companies slashing or halting their dividends, many income investors have seen a “double whammy” of lower portfolio values and lower revenues.

And while it’s real easy to find losers, the dividend winners are much harder to find.

Seven that Money Magazine looked at include 3M (NYSE: MMM), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP), Emerson Electric (NYSE: EMR), Nucor (NYSE: NUE), Dover (NYSE: DOV) and Clorox (NYSE: CLX).

These dividend stocks all have something interesting in common - in addition to the fact they’re each raised dividends for at least 25 years. It’s their yield.

The yields on these companies range from 3.1% to 3.8%. Consider it the “golden ratio” of dividends.

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digg_url = 'http://zignalsblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/stocks-for-2009.html'; Like the Christmas Sales, the Stocks for 2009 are making an early appearance. So let's see who has gone for what: Jubak at MSN: Exxon Mobil (XOM); target of $91 JP Morgan (JPM); Preferred share target of $42 Energy Transder Partners (ETP); target of $42 ONEOK Partners (OKS); target of $52 by December 2009 and $58 by June 2009. Petroleo Brasileriro (PBR); target of $41 Transocean ltd (RIG); target of $117.60 Gorman-Rupp (GRC); target of $35 Middleby Corp (MIDD); target of $75 Chesapeake Energy (CHK); target of $39 US Bancorp (USB); target of $44 Kinross Gold Corp (KGC); target of $19.75 by June 2009 Enbridge Inc (ENB); target of $48 by February 2009 Fortescue Metals Group (FSUMF); target of $5 Plum Creek Timber Co. (PCL); target of $53 Rayonier Inc (RYN); target of $55 Ultra Pertoleum (UPL); target of $107 Thompson Creek Metals (TC); target of $9.90 Yara International (YARIY); target of ...

Monday:Economic New Home Sales (450K)Earnings Arch Coal (ACI), Humana (HUM), FPL (FPL), Sohu (SOHU), Tidewater (TDW), Verizon (VZ), Atheros (ATHR), CF Ind (CF), Meritage (MTH), Vertex (VRTX), Zoran (ZRAN), Universal Health (UHS)Tuesday:Economic Consumer Confidence (52.0)Earnings Boyd (BYD), BP (BP), Ceradyne (CRDN), KC Southern (KSU), Royal Carib (RCL), SAP (SAP), Schnitzer (SCHN), US Steel (X), Under Armour (UA), USG (USG), Valero (VLO), Whirlpool (WHR), Apollo (APOL), Centex (CTX), Cephalon (CEPH), Fiserv (FISV), GMarket (GMKT), Lan Air (LFL), McKesson (MCK), NetLogic (NETL), Walter (WLT), Websense (WBSN), STMicro (STM)Wednesday:Economic Weekly Crude, Durable Orders (-1.0%), FOMC StatementEarnings Aetna (AET), AGCO (AG), Comcast (CMCSA), Corning (GLW), Hess (HES), Garmin (GRMN), Legg Mason (LM), Moody’s (MCO), Newmont (NEM), SPX (SPW), Tesoro (TSO), Agnico (AEM), Cliffs Nat Res (CLF), CME Group (CME), First Solar (FSLR), Gen Cable (BGC), Hartford (HIG), Harris (HRS), Murphy (MUR), Prudential (PRU), Symantec ...