Colgate-Palmolive beats Q1 2026 earnings estimates

2 min readUpdated May 1, 2026

Strong overseas appetite for everyday consumer goods — including oral and personal care products — helped Colgate $CL-Palmolive exceed Wall Street's first-quarter targets for both revenue and profit. Colgate stock rose 3% in premarket trading.

Net sales for the three months ended March 31 came in at $5.32 billion. Adjusted earnings per share were 97 cents. Analyst expectations had called for revenue of $5.22 billion and adjusted earnings per share of 95 cents, according to Reuters.

Domestic demand remained a soft spot, with North America segment volumes declining 3.2% as price-sensitive shoppers traded down to cheaper options, though gains abroad helped pick up the slack. Companywide, volumes grew 1.1% and the company realized a 2.2% lift from pricing, Colgate $CL said.

In a statement, CEO Noel Wallace said the results reflected "broad-based top and bottom-line growth," with net sales and organic sales growing in every category and in four of five divisions. "These results underscore the resilience of our business model as we are able to execute against our long-term strategy while delivering strong results in a difficult operating environment," Wallace said in a statement.

For full-year 2026, Colgate $CL reaffirmed its guidance for net sales growth of 2% to 6% and organic sales growth of 1% to 4%, the company said. However, the company revised its gross profit margin outlook downward — on both a GAAP and non-GAAP basis — from a previous expectation of growth. Colgate attributed the change in part to the estimated impact of tariffs announced and finalized as of April 29, 2026. The company still expects low to mid-single-digit non-GAAP earnings per share growth for the year and double-digit GAAP earnings per share growth.

Colgate also cautioned that escalating oil and commodity prices, along with instability tied to the Middle East conflict, posed a threat to its input and supply chain costs as well as broader consumer demand patterns, according to Reuters. The report follows recent beats by fellow household products makers Procter & Gamble $PG and Kimberly-Clark $KMB, both of which also posted stronger-than-expected quarterly numbers.

Colgate-Palmolive beats earnings expectations as international sales rise

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