Colgate-Palmolive Company · CL · FY2026 Q2 · Calendar Q3 2026

Colgate-Palmolive Q2: Emerging Markets Lead as U.S. Recovery Continues

The quarter supports a mixed but constructive view: resilient demand, emerging-market momentum, premium innovation, and margin execution are positives, while the U.S. recovery and cost volatility remain key tests.

Reported Before market openNYSEConsumer Defensive $69.66B market cap
100quality score

Earnings scorecard

Reported versus consensus
Reported EPS $0.99 Consensus $0.95
EPS surprise +4.5% Reported versus consensus
Reported revenue $5.36B Consensus $5.36B
Revenue surprise +0.1% Reported versus consensus

Market reaction

prior-close to event-session close
Stock move -0.3% Event window
SPY move +0.7% Same window
Abnormal move -1.0% Stock minus SPY
Volume 1.5× Versus trailing sessions
Subsequent drift -0.6% Up to 20 sessions
CLSPY benchmark

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Transcript intelligence

What changed

Compared with the prior quarter, Colgate-Palmolive reported continued growth momentum with a 100-basis-point gross-margin expansion, stronger free cash flow, and maintained guidance. Management also highlighted the Hill's Prime fresh rollout and broader AI deployment, while U.S. recovery remained an explicit focus.

Guidance delta

Management maintained full-year guidance and raised full-year margin guidance to flat despite higher raw-material costs.

Key takeaways

  • Emerging markets and Europe drove most organic sales growth, while the U.S. remained the main improvement area.
  • Gross margin expanded 100 basis points, and free cash flow increased 18%.
  • Management is pairing premium innovation and higher advertising with AI and data investments.

Management priorities

  • Improve U.S. volume and pricing performance
  • Scale premium innovation, including Hill's Prime fresh
  • Expand AI-enabled revenue-growth management, marketing, and productivity tools

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Earnings History

Estimate Beat Miss Match
CL REVENUE earnings history estimate and actual scatter chart 9 reported fiscal quarters and 3 future estimate-only quarters. Q4 '23 estimate $5B Q4 '23 actual $5B, beat Q1 '24 estimate $5B Q1 '24 actual $5B, beat Q2 '24 estimate $5B Q2 '24 actual $5B, beat Q3 '24 estimate $5B Q3 '24 actual $5B, beat Q2 '25 estimate $5B Q2 '25 actual $5B, beat Q3 '25 estimate $5B Q3 '25 actual $5B, match Q4 '25 estimate $5B Q4 '25 actual $5B, beat Q1 '26 estimate $5B Q1 '26 actual $5B, beat Q2 '26 estimate $5B Q2 '26 actual $5B, match Q3 '26 estimate $5B Q4 '26 estimate $5B Q1 '27 estimate $5B
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Analyst Consensus ?

ConsensusHold45 ratings
Bullish1840.0%
Neutral2555.6%
Bearish24.4%

Analyst 52W Price Targets

$87.05Current
$76Low
$93.75Average
$121High

Latest persisted target per named analyst; persisted current price from FN2's market snapshot as of Sep 23, 2026. Not an FN2 forecast.

Firm-level rating actions

FMP grade actions identify the grading firm, not a named analyst.

FirmRatingPrior ratingActionDate
Piper Sandler Overweight OverweightMaintainSep 21, 2026
RBC Capital Outperform OutperformMaintainSep 8, 2026
UBS Buy BuyMaintainAug 3, 2026
TD Cowen Hold HoldMaintainAug 3, 2026
JP Morgan Overweight OverweightMaintainAug 3, 2026
Show 40 more rating actions

Named analyst price targets

Upside is calculated against the persisted current price $87.05. FMP does not supply a rating on these named-analyst rows.

FirmAnalyst52W targetPrice when postedUpsideDate
Piper SandlerAnalyst unavailable$95$87.47 +9.1%Sep 21, 2026
RBC CapitalNik Modi$104$91.67 +19.5%Aug 3, 2026
Deutsche BankAnalyst unavailable$101$91.31 +16.0%Aug 3, 2026
Morgan StanleyAnalyst unavailable$104$92.4 +19.5%Aug 3, 2026
UBSAnalyst unavailable$109$92.29 +25.2%Aug 3, 2026
See 64 more

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Company context

Snapshot as of publication

Operating globally, Colgate-Palmolive Company and its affiliated entities are engaged in the production and distribution of a diverse range of consumer goods. Its operations are structured into two primary divisions: Oral, Personal and Home Care, and Pet Nutrition. The Oral, Personal and Home Care division encompasses a broad array of offerings, spanning oral hygiene (e.g., toothpastes, toothbrushes, mouthwashes), personal care (e.g., bar and liquid soaps, shower gels, shampoos, conditioners, deodorants, antiperspirants, skin health items), and home care solutions (e.g., dishwashing detergents, fabric conditioners, household cleaners).…

Historical context

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Sources

  1. Earnings call transcript and parsed analysis · 2026-08-04T19:07:58.554896+00:00
  2. FN2 earnings calendar · 2026-09-05T01:23:14.965082+00:00
  3. Polygon adjusted daily market bars · 2026-09-23T01:50:53.450434+00:00
  4. Financial Modeling Prep analyst price-target consensus and quote snapshot · 2026-09-23T01:50:53.447236+00:00

Methodology

Reported and consensus figures come from FN2's earnings event records. Market reaction and volume are calculated from daily adjusted bars around the event; abnormal move subtracts the SPY move over the same window.

Analyst target low, average, and high values are derived at request time from each named analyst's latest persisted FMP target. The current-price marker comes from FN2's persisted market snapshot. They are sell-side estimates, not an FN2 valuation or recommendation.

Transcript intelligence is a structured synthesis of the current and prior earnings-call analyses. Missing values stay missing and are never estimated.

By FN2 Research · Updated · As of 2026-09-23. For educational purposes only; not investment advice.