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Freshly brushed, slightly mixed results
Colgate-Palmolive turned in a decent-looking quarter: net sales rose 4.9% and organic sales climbed 2.4%. Not exactly a fireworks show, but in consumer staples land, that kind of steady growth can be the difference between “boring” and “beautiful.”
Profit story: better margins, softer EPS
The bigger headline is on profitability. GAAP EPS fell 5% to $0.86, while base business EPS rose 8% to $0.99. Translation: the underlying business looks healthier than the headline number, helped by a 140-basis-point boost in gross margin to 61.5%.
That’s the kind of margin move investors like, because it suggests Colgate is getting more efficient even if top-line growth is still moving at toothpaste-speed.
The pet food wrinkle
There was one small speed bump: lower private label pet food sales shaved 0.4% off organic sales. Not a crisis, just a reminder that even a household-name staples company can get nudged around by a less glamorous corner of the business.
- Net cash from operations: $1.742 billion for the first six months of 2026
- Toothpaste leadership: still intact, because apparently even in 2026, people keep brushing their teeth
Big picture: this is the kind of earnings report that won’t make your group chat explode, but it does show Colgate’s core engine is still running cleanly.