Why Spectra Energy, Clorox, HollyFrontier and 2 More Are in the Limelight

Clorox Turns in Mixed Quarter

Clorox Co (NYSE:CLX) earned $1.26 per share on sales of $1.6 billion for its fourth quarter of fiscal year 2016, missing the bottom-line consensus estimate by $0.02 per share but beating the top-line target by $20 million. For the full 2016 fiscal year, Clorox earned diluted EPS of $4.92 from continuing operations, up by 8% year-over-year. For fiscal year 2017, management believes sales will increase by 2%-to-4% and EBIT margin will expand by 25-to-50 basis points. Adjusted EPS is expected to come in between $5.38 and $5.58. 29 hedge funds in our system were long Clorox Co (NYSE:CLX) at the end of the first quarter, up by three funds quarter-over-quarter.

HollyFrontier Earnings Fall Short

In what has been a weak quarter for almost all refiners, HollyFrontier Corp (NYSE:HFC)‘s second quarter was no exception, with the refiner reporting earnings of $0.28 per share versus analysts’ consensus estimate of $0.32 per share. HollyFrontier’s revenue for the time period came in at $2.71 billion, down by 26.8% year-over-year, but still beating estimates by $290 million. On a per produced barrel basis, consolidated refinery gross margin was $8.88 per barrel, down by almost half from the $17.42 figure that it stood at for the second quarter of 2015, as weak benchmark refining margins weighed on results. Soft results aside, there are some firm hedge fund believers in HollyFrontier Corp (NYSE:HFC). Cliff Asness‘ AQR Capital Management was one of them, reporting owning a stake of over 5.5 million shares of the company as of March 31, up by up 42% quarter-over-quarter.

Vitamin Shoppe in the Spotlight

Traders are watching Vitamin Shoppe Inc (NYSE:VSI) today after the company reported second quarter EPS of $0.55 on sales of $332.72 million. The market was expecting $0.04 per share more in terms of profit and $1.14 million less in terms of revenue. Total comparable sales inched up by 1.6%, while the company’s adjusted operating margin inched lower by 130 basis points to 7.2%. For the full year, management sees flat-to-slightly-negative total comparable-sales and adjusted earnings per share of between $2.10 and $2.30. The number of top funds in our database that had holdings in Vitamin Shoppe Inc (NYSE:VSI) as of March 31 stood at 16, up by one quarter-over-quarter.

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