Ecolab Inc. · ECL · FY2025 Q4 · Calendar Q1 2026

Ecolab sets 2026 growth outlook around high-tech and productivity

The evidence supports a constructive but conditional view of Ecolab’s growth trajectory: management points to resilient demand in high-growth businesses, pricing, productivity, and high-tech water opportunities, while cyclical volume and execution risks remain material.

Reported Before market openNYSEBasic Materials $78.20B market cap
100quality score

Earnings scorecard

Reported versus consensus
Reported EPS $2.08 Consensus $2.07
EPS surprise +0.5% Reported versus consensus
Reported revenue $4.19B Consensus $4.19B
Revenue surprise +0.1% Reported versus consensus

Market reaction

prior-close to event-session close
Stock move +4.0% Event window
SPY move -0.3% Same window
Abnormal move +4.2% Stock minus SPY
Volume 1.9× Versus trailing sessions
Subsequent drift -7.5% Up to 20 sessions
ECLSPY benchmark

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Transcript intelligence

What changed

The current quarter adds a 2026 outlook centered on 3–4% organic sales growth, 7–9% total sales growth, margin above 19%, and 12–15% EPS growth. Management also highlighted early Ovivo integration, directed chip cooling, broader IQ Suite deployment, and a higher One Ecolab savings ambition.

Guidance delta

The 2026 outlook targets 3–4% organic sales growth, 7–9% total sales growth, operating-income margin above 19%, and 12–15% EPS growth.

Key takeaways

  • Ecolab described 2025 as a record year, with adjusted EPS growth of 15% and operating margin reaching 18.5%.
  • Management expects growth engines including Global High-Tech, Digital, Pest Elimination, and Life Sciences to continue delivering double-digit sales growth and high margins.
  • Ovivo, directed chip cooling, IQ Suite, and One Ecolab savings are central to the 2026 plan.
  • The main counterweights are distributor-inventory normalization, recovery timing in basic industries and paper, FX, tariffs, and execution risk.

Management priorities

  • Roll out directed chip cooling as a service in 2026.
  • Broaden CIPIQ and IQ Suite adoption across food-and-beverage and institutional customers.
  • Expand smart pest-control devices beyond rodents.
  • Accelerate Ovivo ultra-pure-water deployments for semiconductor fabs.
  • Execute the One Ecolab savings program and scale Ecolab Digital.

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Earnings History

Estimate Beat Miss Match
ECL EPS earnings history estimate and actual scatter chart 9 reported fiscal quarters and 4 future estimate-only quarters. Q4 '23 estimate $1.54 Q4 '23 actual $1.55, match Q1 '24 estimate $1.34 Q1 '24 actual $1.34, match Q2 '24 estimate $1.67 Q2 '24 actual $1.68, match Q3 '24 estimate $1.82 Q3 '24 actual $1.83, match Q2 '25 estimate $1.90 Q2 '25 actual $1.89, match Q3 '25 estimate $2.07 Q3 '25 actual $2.07, match Q4 '25 estimate $2.07 Q4 '25 actual $2.08, match Q1 '26 estimate $1.70 Q1 '26 actual $1.70, match Q2 '26 estimate $2.08 Q2 '26 actual $2.09, match Q3 '26 estimate $2.17 Q4 '26 estimate $2.20 Q1 '27 estimate $1.92 Q2 '27 estimate $2.35
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Analyst Consensus ?

ConsensusBuy37 ratings
Bullish2978.4%
Neutral718.9%
Bearish12.7%

Analyst 52W Price Targets

$277.87Previous close
$164Low
$275.22Average
$360High

Latest persisted target per named analyst; persisted previous close from FN2's market snapshot as of Sep 30, 2026. Not an FN2 forecast.

Firm-level rating actions

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

FirmRatingPrior ratingActionDate
Wells Fargo Equal Weight Equal WeightMaintainJul 30, 2026
Mizuho Outperform OutperformMaintainJul 29, 2026
JP Morgan Overweight OverweightMaintainJul 29, 2026
BMO Capital Outperform OutperformMaintainJul 29, 2026
Oppenheimer Outperform PerformUpgradeJul 17, 2026
Show 32 more rating actions

Named analyst price targets

Upside is calculated against the persisted previous close $277.87. FMP does not supply a rating on these named-analyst rows.

FirmAnalyst52W targetPrice when postedUpsideDate
UBSJoshua Spector$342$281.05 +23.1%Jul 29, 2026
BMO CapitalJohn McNulty$360$280.58 +29.6%Jul 29, 2026
Mizuho SecuritiesAnalyst unavailable$327$282.9 +17.7%Jul 29, 2026
Robert W. BairdAndrew Wittmann$305$282.9 +9.8%Jul 29, 2026
OppenheimerScott Schneeberger$320$275.71 +15.2%Jul 17, 2026
See 68 more

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Company context

Snapshot as of publication

Ecolab Inc. provides water, hygiene, and infection prevention solutions and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through four segments: Global Water, Global Institutional & Specialty, Global Pest Elimination, and Global Life Sciences. The Global Water segment offers water treatment and process applications, and cleaning and sanitizing solutions to manufacturing, food and beverage processing, transportation, chemical, primary metals and mining, power generation, global refining, petrochemical, pulp and paper industries.…

Historical context

All ECL earnings

Basic Materials peers this season

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Latest beats and misses

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Sources

  1. Earnings call transcript and parsed analysis · 2026-05-11T10:29:34.698584+00:00
  2. FN2 earnings calendar · 2026-07-26T00:37:12.209961+00:00
  3. Polygon adjusted daily market bars · 2026-09-30T06:06:17.333128+00:00
  4. Financial Modeling Prep analyst price-target consensus and quote snapshot · 2026-09-30T06:06:17.330337+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 2026-09-30. For educational purposes only; not investment advice.