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Colgate-Palmolive (CL) Tops Q1 EPS by 1c

April 27, 2018 6:56 AM EDT

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL) reported Q1 EPS of $0.74, $0.01 better than the analyst estimate of $0.73. Revenue for the quarter came in at $4 billion versus the consensus estimate of $4.02 billion.

Ian Cook, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented on the first quarter results, “The first quarter was a challenging one as category growth remained soft in many markets around the world. While net sales grew 6.5%, organic sales grew 1.5%, below our expectations, due to flat unit volume growth in emerging markets. In developed markets, unit volume grew 4.5% and organic volume grew 3.0%, led by strong volume growth in North America and Europe. Encouragingly, worldwide pricing improved sequentially versus fourth quarter 2017.

“Advertising investment increased in absolute dollars versus first quarter 2017 and we continue to plan for increased advertising investment, both absolutely and as a percent to sales, for the full year in support of new products, our base businesses and longer-term consumption-building activities.

“Operating profit, net income and diluted earnings per share all increased versus the year ago period.

“Colgate’s leadership of the global toothpaste market continued during the quarter with our global market share at 42.4% year to date. Our global leadership in manual toothbrushes also continued with Colgate’s global market share in that category at 32.5% year to date.”

Mr. Cook continued, “As we look ahead, while uncertainty in global markets and category growth worldwide remain challenging, we are maintaining our heightened focus on brand building and increased productivity while accelerating our change efforts. Based on current spot rates, we expect a mid-single-digit net sales increase and low-single-digit organic sales growth in 2018, with sequential improvement in organic sales growth in the balance of the year.

“On a GAAP basis, based on current spot rates and including the impact of the Global Growth and Efficiency Program, we are planning for a year of gross margin expansion and expect double-digit earnings per share growth.

“Excluding charges resulting from the Global Growth and Efficiency Program and the one-time charge related to U.S. tax reform in 2017, based on current spot rates, we are planning for a year of increased operating cash flow, gross margin expansion, increased advertising investment and low-double-digit earnings per share growth.”

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Colgate-Palmolive (CL) click here.



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