Dividend.com: Clorox Cleans Up

The company lowered its full-year FFO forecast to $3.06 to $3.16 per share from $3.33 to $3.43, including the special dividend and costs associated with hurricane damage. The consensus is for $3.09 per share.

We removed shares of AIV from our "Recommended" list back on Aug. 25, when they were trading at $36.19. We prefer shares of Avalon Bay Communities(AVB Quote) for an apartment-focused REIT play at this time.

Apartment Investment & Management is not recommended at this time, holding a Dividend.com Rating of 3.3 out of 5 stars.

Clorox Hoping for Brand Loyalty

Clorox(CLX Quote) just reported it beat first-quarter EPS estimates by 11 cents on revenue that gained 12% to $1.38 billion.

Some of the product highlights that sold well were Burt's Bees personal care products, Green Works environmentally friendly cleaners and Glad ForceFlex trash bags. The company credits higher prices for softening the impact of increased commodity costs.

Management believes that consumers will turn to brands they trust, such as its own, during the tough economic times. The company's EPS outlook in fiscal 2009 is $3.60 to $3.75. The consensus estimates are for earnings of $3.69.

We had recently removed shares of Clorox from our "Recommended" list on Oct. 15, when shares traded at $58.06. The company has a dividend yield of 2.70%, based on last night's closing stock price of $59.21. We feel the stock has a flat risk/reward at these levels and would look for a better entry point to take a position. The stock trades at 17 times the low end of 2009 estimates.