Colgate-Palmolive’s strong top-line growth in the final quarter of 2025 has excited investors.
Shares in the oral care and household goods giant have jumped more than 7% since a strong Q4 trading update revealed top-line growth of 5.8% in the three months to 31 December.
Full-year net sales at the US conglomerate rose to $20.4bn (£14.9bn), up 1.4%. Organic sales rose by the same degree, with growth in every category in the final quarter of the year bar private-label petfood.
A record cash haul of $4.2bn in the year likewise helped Colgate-Palmolive return $2.9bn in cash to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases, and the company’s underlying earnings per share rose 3%.
“We are pleased to have exited 2025 with accelerated growth momentum on both the top and bottom lines, even in the face of sluggish category growth in many markets,” said CEO and chairman Noel Wallace.
The company now expects sales to grow between 2% and 6% in 2026, with organic sales up 1% to 4%, including a 0.2% impact from exiting the private-label petfood business.
“We have laid out a clear path to accelerate our growth going forward with a focus on leveraging the global reach and penetration of our brands, building the incremental benefit of superior, science-based innovation, harnessing the power of best-in-class omnichannel demand generation, leading in capabilities like data, analytics and AI, and evolving our high-impact, inclusive culture,” Wallace added.
“As we begin 2026, while we expect the difficult operating environment and slower category growth to continue in the short term, we are operating from a position of strength and are confident the changes we are making will enable us to deliver consistent, compounded earnings per share growth and drive shareholder value in the long term.”
RBC Analyst Nik Modi said the company had delivered a “solid quarter” considering the difficult consumer environment, with Colgate-Palmolive making “real progress following several sluggish quarters”.
While North America is still a struggle for the business – losing volumes in most categories in Q4 – emerging markets have become a significant area of expansion.
Better-than-expected sales growth in Latin America was joined by a return to growth in India, and Modi pointed out a solid benefit from financial exchange rates would come in the first half of 2026.
“[The company’s] outlook for 2026 came in line with expectations, which were subdued after several consecutive sluggish quarters,” he added.
“[Colgate-Palmolive’s] guidance ranges are notably wider and achievable in our view, setting up the company to deliver as the year progresses.”
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