S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component Clorox Corporation (NYSE:CLX) reported its results for the third quarter. Clorox Company manufactures consumer products that are sold primarily through mass merchandisers, grocery stores and other retail outlets.

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Clorox Earnings Cheat Sheet for the Third Quarter

Results: Net income for Clorox Corporation fell to $151 million ($1.02/share) vs. $165 million ($1.16/share) a year earlier. A decline of 8.5% from the year earlier quarter.

Revenue: Rose 1% to $1.37 billion YoY.

Actual vs. Wall St. Expectations: CLX fell short of the mean analyst estimate of $1.04/share. Estimates ranged from $1 per share to $1.10 per share.

Quoting Management: “Our 1.3 percent sales growth is a significant improvement over the three percent decrease in the first half of the fiscal year, and we expect to see growth in the fourth quarter as well,” said Chairman and CEO Don Knauss. “Still, we face a challenging economic environment, as evidenced by weak category performance in the U.S. and increasing commodity costs. We are controlling those factors we can control, and we’re confident we are taking the right actions to drive further efficiency, enable growth and maintain the long-term health of our brands. Clorox has great brands, great people and great capabilities. As we execute on our strategic plan, and the economy stabilizes and grows stronger, we anticipate achieving significantly improved results.”

Key Stats:

The company has now seen net income fall in each of the last two quarters. In the second quarter, net income fell 80.9% from the year earlier quarter.

A year-over-year revenue increase last quarter snaps a streak of two consecutive quarters of revenue declines. Revenue fell 7.8% in the second quarter and fell 7.7% in the first quarter.

Competitors to Watch: Zep, Inc. (NYSE:ZEP), The Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE:PG), Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (NYSE:CHD), Ocean Bio-Chem, Inc. (NASDAQ:OBCI), PURE Bioscience (NASDAQ:PURE), Source Direct Hldgs., Inc. (SODH), Anpath Group, Inc. (ANPGQ), and Kyzen Corporation (KYZN)

Stock Performance: Shares of CLX are trading at $67.21 as of May 3, 2011 at 12:22 PM ET, down 3.99 percent from the previous close of $69.99.

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