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Colgate-Palmolive (Colgate-Palmolive (CL)) had a decent quarter on paper. Adjusted earnings and revenue beat expectations, and the company even got a nice boost from tariff refunds. But investors weren't impressed, and the stock traded lower on Friday. Why? Because management basically said, "Thanks for the refunds, but the new tariffs are going to hurt more."
Let's break down what happened.
Base Business EPS rose 8% to 99 cents, beating the 95-cent estimate. Net sales increased 4.9% to $5.361 billion, slightly above the $5.358 billion estimate, while organic sales grew 2.4%. That organic number included a 0.4-percentage-point drag from the exit of the private-label pet food business. GAAP EPS fell 5% to 86 cents, and net income declined to $693 million from $743 million.
Gross margin expanded 140 basis points to 61.5% on both a GAAP and Base Business basis. Productivity added 280 basis points, and pricing contributed 60 basis points, which helped offset a 220-basis-point raw-material headwind that included tariffs and tariff refunds. Interestingly, tariff refunds drove roughly one-third of the margin expansion. That's a nice chunk of change, but it's not something you can count on forever.
GAAP operating profit fell 6% to $1.016 billion, including $129 million in productivity-program charges. Base Business operating profit rose 5% to $1.145 billion.
Organic volume increased 0.8%, while pricing rose 1.6%. Advertising spending climbed 15% to $777 million, or a record 14.5% of sales. That's a big investment in the brands, and management seems committed to keeping the pedal down.
"While we expect the volatile market conditions to continue in the balance of 2026, we are confident that the strength of our global portfolio and clear business strategy should enable us to deliver consistent, compounded earnings per share growth and drive long-term shareholder value," Chairman, President and CEO Noel Wallace said.
Wallace said the company plans to maintain strong second-half investment, with priorities including premium, science-led innovation and omni-channel demand generation. In other words, they're going to keep spending to drive growth, even if the environment is choppy.
Regionally, it was a mixed bag. Latin America sales rose 13.7%, Asia Pacific increased 4.9%, and Europe, Middle East and Africa gained 3.5%. Hill's Pet Nutrition grew 3.4%. But North America sales fell 3%, hurt by slower category growth, market-share losses, heightened competition, and retailers cutting inventory. That's a red flag for a company that relies heavily on the U.S. market.
The Middle East conflict also took a toll, reducing EMEA organic growth by about 1 percentage point.
On the cash flow front, first-half operating cash flow rose to $1.742 billion, and free cash flow increased to $1.476 billion. Cash totaled $1.37 billion, while debt stood at $7.857 billion.
Colgate maintained its 2026 net sales growth outlook of 2% to 6%, implying sales of about $20.790 billion to $21.605 billion based on 2025 revenue, versus the $21.463 billion estimate. Organic sales growth guidance remained at 1% to 4%. The company also raised its Base Business EPS growth guidance to mid-single digits and now expects gross margin to remain roughly flat.
So why did the stock fall? The decline followed weakness in North America and management's warning that recently announced tariff increases would more than offset second-quarter tariff refunds. Those concerns outweighed the earnings beat and improved profit outlook. It's a classic case of "good news, but..."
At the time of publication on Friday, Colgate-Palmolive shares were down 1.48% at $90.24.
Photo via Shutterstock
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