Energizer (NYSE:ENR) and Clorox (NYSE:CLX) Head-To-Head Review

Energizer (NYSE:ENR) and Clorox (NYSE:CLX) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, dividends, valuation and risk.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Energizer and Clorox”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Energizer	$3.00 billion	0.41	$239.00 million	$2.97	6.01
Clorox	$6.76 billion	1.54	$810.00 million	$6.16	13.99

Clorox has higher revenue and earnings than Energizer. Energizer is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Clorox, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Energizer has a beta of 0.8, indicating that its share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Clorox has a beta of 0.59, indicating that its share price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

93.7% of Energizer shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.5% of Clorox shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.6% of Energizer shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Clorox shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Energizer and Clorox’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Energizer	7.11%	143.24%	5.08%
Clorox	11.18%	443.64%	14.32%

Dividends

Energizer pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.7%. Clorox pays an annual dividend of $4.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.8%. Energizer pays out 40.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Clorox pays out 80.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Clorox has raised its dividend for 47 consecutive years. Energizer is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Energizer and Clorox, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Energizer	0	7	1	0	2.13
Clorox	4	12	1	0	1.82

Energizer currently has a consensus target price of $23.43, suggesting a potential upside of 31.24%. Clorox has a consensus target price of $104.00, suggesting a potential upside of 20.69%. Given Energizer’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Energizer is more favorable than Clorox.

Summary

Clorox beats Energizer on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Energizer

Energizer Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, markets, and distributes household batteries, specialty batteries, and lighting products worldwide. It offers lithium, alkaline, carbon zinc, nickel metal hydride, zinc air, and silver oxide batteries under the Energizer, Eveready, and Rayovac brands; primary, rechargeable, specialty, and hearing aid batteries; and handheld, headlights, lanterns, and area lights, as well as flashlights under the Hard Case, Dolphin, and WeatherReady brands. The company licenses the Energizer, Rayovac, and Eveready brands to companies developing consumer solutions in solar, automotive batteries, portable power for critical devices, generators, power tools, household light bulbs, and other lighting products. In addition, it designs and markets automotive fragrance and appearance products, including protectants, wipes, tire and wheel care products, glass cleaners, leather care products, air fresheners, and washes to clean, shine, refresh, and protect interior and exterior automobile surfaces under the brand names of Armor All, Nu Finish, Refresh Your Car!, LEXOL, Eagle One, California Scents, Driven, Bahama & Co, Carnu, Grand Prix, Kit, and Tempo; STP branded fuel and oil additives, functional fluids, and other performance chemical products; and do-it-yourself automotive air conditioning recharge products under the A/C PRO brand name, as well as other refrigerant and recharge kits, sealants, and accessories. The company sells its products through direct sales force, distributors, and wholesalers; and various retail and business-to-business channels, including mass merchandisers, club, electronics, food, home improvement, dollar store, auto, drug, hardware, e-commerce, convenience, sporting goods, hobby/craft, office, industrial, medical, and catalog. Energizer Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in Saint Louis, Missouri.

About Clorox

The Clorox Company manufactures and markets consumer and professional products worldwide. It operates through four segments: Health and Wellness, Household, Lifestyle, and International. The Health and Wellness segment offers cleaning products, such as laundry additives and home care products primarily under the Clorox, Clorox2, Scentiva, Pine-Sol, Liquid-Plumr, Tilex, and Formula 409 brands; professional cleaning and disinfecting products under the CloroxPro and Clorox Healthcare brands; professional food service products under the Hidden Valley brand; and vitamins, minerals and supplement products under the RenewLife, Natural Vitality, NeoCell, and Rainbow Light brands in the United States. The Household segment provides cat litter products under the Fresh Step and Scoop Away brands; bags and wraps under the Glad brand; and grilling products under the Kingsford brand in the United States. The Lifestyle segment offers dressings, dips, seasonings, and sauces primarily under the Hidden Valley brand; natural personal care products under the Burt's Bees brand; and water-filtration products under the Brita brand in the United States. The International segment provides laundry additives; home care products; water-filtration systems; digestive health products; grilling products; cat litter products; food products; bags and wraps; natural personal care products; and professional cleaning and disinfecting products internationally primarily under the Clorox, Ayudin, Clorinda, Poett, Pine-Sol, Glad, Brita, RenewLife, Ever Clean and Burt's Bees brands. It sells its products primarily through mass retailers; grocery outlets; warehouse clubs; dollar stores; home hardware centers; drug, pet, and military stores; third-party and owned e-commerce channels; and distributors, as well as a direct sales force The Clorox Company was founded in 1913 and is headquartered in Oakland, California.