Ecolab Inc.

Price story Before the numbers, the tape. A stock price moves through four repeating seasons: a flat base (stage 1), an advance (2), a top (3), a decline (4). Where the price sits in that cycle frames everything below.

Ecolab Inc. trades at $283, in a confirmed uptrend and 2 weeks into that stage. That is +4.5% against its own 200-day average. It sits at 58% of a 52-week range of $248 to $308. On relative strength it has been ahead of the S&P 500 on a trailing-13-week view for 2 straight weeks.

Today the stock is in a confirmed uptrend — week 2 of stage 2. At $283 it trades +4.5% versus its 200-day average and sits at 58% of its 52-week range ($248–$308).

Against the market, two honest reads. Cumulative: over the last 10.1 years the stock moved +138% while the S&P 500 moved +263% — behind the index over the full window. Recent form: on a trailing-13-week view the stock has been ahead for 2 straight weeks — the ribbon below is that same metric, week by week.

What would end the trend, mechanically: two Friday closes in a row below the 200-day line. That is the exit rule — no debates.

Valuation P/E is the price of $1 of annual profit: how many dollars the market pays for each dollar the company earns in a year.

Ecolab Inc. trades at 38.0× P/E, mid-range by its own standards (40th percentile). Its long-run median P/E is 39.8×, measured across 4.3 years of weekly readings. This places the multiple against the stock’s own record, and says nothing about what the business is worth.

Today's P/E of 38.0× is mid-range by its own standards (40th percentile), against a long-run median of 39.8× measured over 4.3 years of weekly readings. This is a comparison against the stock's own history — not a claim about what it is worth.

Why the multiple sits where it does: over the past year annual EPS moved −1.2% against a +8.5% price move — the price outran earnings, pushing the multiple UP its own range.

The price move, decomposed: over 3y, of the +15.8%/yr price move, ~+21.6%/yr came from earnings growth and ~−5.8 pp from the multiple (compressing). The split is the honest approximate (price return minus earnings growth); it makes the rally itself visible instead of hiding it behind the percentile.

Put together: the multiple is unremarkable against its own past, so the story rests on the earnings line underneath it, not the multiple.

Stage: Topping out Every business sits somewhere on a fundamental arc, and this page names the spot before anything else. The last twelve quarters of revenue, profit and EPS growth — plus the return the business earns on its capital — are read as curves: Deteriorating (the curves are falling), Turning around (a trough has just formed and the last few quarters lift off it), Improving (the climb off the trough is sustained), Consistent (steadily positive with healthy returns), Topping out (still high but decelerating from the peak). When the curves genuinely disagree the read is Mixed; too little history is No read. CAGR (compound annual growth rate) is the smooth yearly pace that turns the starting value into the latest one — the fairest way to compare growth across different time spans. Read the columns together: if the 1-year number towers over the 10-year, recent growth is running hotter than the long-run trend. A dash means that window is not held, or the base year was a loss (where a growth rate is not meaningful).

Ecolab Inc. reads as topping out on its fundamental arc. Topping out — profit and EPS growth have decelerated hard (profit growth +53.2% at its peak → +0.5% latest) while ROCE still reads 15.3%. The read is built from 12 quarters across 4 curves, on full evidence.

Why it matters: decelerating from a peak is where good stories quietly end — the multiple usually notices late.

4-Factor Sector Score

46.7/100 — rank 18 of 29 in Specialty Chemicals · 58% evidence confidence

Ecolab Inc. scores 46.7 out of 100 against the 29 companies it is compared with in Specialty Chemicals, ranking 18. Fill the missing evidence before acting; the ranking is deliberately pulled toward neutral.

The four contributions add to the total exactly: 17 + 12.9 + 9.5 + 7.3 = 46.7. This is the SAME number shown on the sector comparison — it is computed once, for the whole peer set, and read here.

What would change it: The read weakens if profit growth turns negative or margin improvement reverses while sector-relative strength deteriorates.

Revenue Revenue is the top line: everything the company billed its customers in the period.

Ecolab Inc. reported $4.1 B of revenue in the Mar 26 quarter, +10.3% year on year. That is the 4th straight quarter of year-on-year growth. Over 4 years it has compounded at 6.0% a year. The last full year, FY25, came in at $16.1 B. The last four reported quarters add to $16.5 B.

FY25 revenue came in at $16.1 B (+2.2% on the year), capping 4 years at 6.0% compound. The latest quarter (Mar 26) printed $4.1 B, +10.3% year on year — the 4th consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth.

Pace check: the last four quarters averaged +5.1% growth against the decade's 6.0% — the current year is running in line with its own long-run rate.

Acceleration check: trailing-twelve-month revenue grew +5.0% over the last 4 quarters against +3.1%/yr over the last 8 — stabilising; TTM profit +0.5% vs +16.5%/yr — rolling over.

Operating margin Operating margin is what is left of every $100 of sales after running the business, before interest and tax. It is the cleanest read on pricing power and cost control.

Ecolab Inc.'s operating margin is 15.2% in the Mar 26 quarter, +0.0 percentage points against the same quarter a year ago. Across 5 fiscal years the operating margin has ranged 11.0% to 17.8%. The current quarter sits inside that band.

The latest quarter's operating margin is 15.2%, +0.0 pp against the same quarter a year ago. Across 5 fiscal years the operating margin has ranged 11.0%–17.8%.

Why the margin moved: operating margin went +0.0 pp year on year while gross margin went −0.7 pp — the gain came mostly from the gross line: input costs and pricing.

Net profit Net profit is what survives every cost, interest and tax — the number EPS, dividends and book value all grow from.

Ecolab Inc. earned $0.4 B of net profit in the Mar 26 quarter, +7.3% year on year. It is the 2nd consecutive quarter of growth. Full-year FY25 profit was $2.1 B. The 4-year compound rate is 16.4%. That is 10.8% of the quarter's revenue. The same quarter a year earlier earned $0.4 B.

Mar 26 profit was $0.4 B, +7.3% year on year — the 2nd consecutive quarter of growth. On the full year, FY25 printed $2.1 B (−1.9%), and the 4-year compound rate is 16.4%.

Why profit moved: revenue contributed +10.3% and the margin +0.0 pp — the quarter was revenue-led, with the margin roughly flat.

Pace comparison, last four quarters: profit +3.5% vs revenue +5.1%. Profit and revenue are moving roughly in step.

Cash flow — the router The P&L says what was earned; the cash-flow statement says what actually arrived. Operating cash flow (CFO) against profit is the cleanest lie detector in the accounts.

Over the last 3 fiscal years 146% of Ecolab Inc.'s reported profit arrived as operating cash — the cash follows the profit. In FY25 that was $3.0 B of operating cash against $2.1 B of profit. After $1.1 B of capital spending, $1.9 B was left as free cash.

FY25: operating cash of $3.0 B against reported profit of $2.1 B, leaving free cash of $1.9 B after $1.1 B of capital spending. Across the last 3 fiscal years the conversion rate is 146% of profit.

Cash-flow readings here are annual — that is the resolution our series carries, so this section moves once a year.

Why: conversion is measured cleanly, but the working-capital day-counts behind it sit below what we hold — the move is shown without inventing its driver.

Router verdict: the visible cash user is investment — the next section checks what the spending is buying.

Where the cash goes Working capital is the cash tied up between paying suppliers and getting paid: debtor days (customers owe), inventory days (stock waits), and the cash conversion cycle (the whole loop, in days of sales).

Ecolab Inc. does not report the debtor, inventory and payable day-counts a cash cycle is built from, so this section reads the investment side instead. Capital spending ran $3.0 B over the last 3 years. Averaged over those years that is 6.2% of FY25 revenue a year.

Working-capital day-counts are not in our numbers for this stock, so this section reads the investment side — where the cash is being put to work.

On the investment side: capital spending of $3.0 B over the last 3 fiscal years.

The synthesis: the cash is going into capacity, not disappearing into the cycle — the question becomes whether the new capacity earns.

Return on equity Return on equity (ROE) is the profit the business earns on its shareholders’ money. With the full capital-employed split not in our numbers, ROE is the cleanest long ladder we can draw here.

Ecolab Inc. earns a ROE of 21% in FY25. That is up from a trough of 8% in FY22. Return on invested capital clears the cost of that capital by +5.4 percentage points, so growth here adds value rather than only size. The wiring behind it is 13.0% net margin on 0.65× asset turns.

FY25 ROE is 21%, recovered from a FY22 trough of 8% — the full ladder below shows the fall and the climb, undoctored.

Why the return is what it is — the wiring (FY25): 13.0% net margin × 0.65× asset turns × 2.52× balance-sheet leverage ≈ 21.3% on equity. Margin does its share; leverage is a meaningful part of the equation.

The capstone test — ROIC − WACC: 13.5% − 8.1% = a +5.4 pp spread. The 8.1% is an estimate of this company's own cost of capital — read the sign and the size of the spread, not the decimals. A spread this wide means every dollar reinvested creates more than a dollar of value — the engine compounds.

Dividend A dividend is cash paid out per share. Dividend per share is the declared amount for the period; the trailing twelve-month total is the four most recent quarters added together.

Ecolab Inc. paid $2.76 per share over the last four reported quarters, up 12.3% on a year ago. The most recent declaration was $0.73 for Mar 26. Against the current price of $283 that is a trailing yield of 0.97%, measured on dividends already paid rather than on a forecast.

Ecolab Inc. paid $2.76 per share across the last four reported quarters, most recently $0.73 for Mar 26. That is up 12.3% against the same quarter a year earlier. Against the current price of $283 the trailing twelve months work out to 0.97% — trailing dividends measured against today's price, not a forward estimate.

Debt Debt-to-equity says how much of the business is funded by borrowings. Low is the safe corner; the trend matters as much as the level.

Ecolab Inc. carries total debt of $13.8 B against shareholder equity of $10.1 B as of Jun 26, a debt-to-equity of 1.36. On the annual view that ratio went from 0.62 in FY21 to 0.90 in FY25. Read the returns elsewhere on this page with that leverage in mind.

Jun 26: total debt of $13.8 B against shareholder equity of $10.1 B — a debt-to-equity of 1.36. On the annual view, debt-to-equity went from 0.62 (FY21) to 0.90 (FY25). Read the returns on this page with that leverage in mind.

Ownership There is no quarter-by-quarter holder register to read here, so we read the crowd through short interest — the slice of tradable shares currently sold short, positioned for a fall.

1.2% of Ecolab Inc.'s tradable float is currently sold short — the crowd is not positioned against this stock. At typical trading volumes those positions would take about 2.1 days to buy back. There is no quarter-by-quarter holder register to read for this filer, so the crowd is read through short interest instead.

The latest reading: 1.2% of the float is sold short, and at typical trading volumes it would take about 2.1 days to buy those positions back. The crowd is not positioned against this stock. This is a single point-in-time reading — we do not yet hold its history, so we show no trend chart.

Why it sits there: who is doing the shorting, and why, does not travel with the number — the level is shown without inventing its story.

Safety line The Z-score estimates how far a company sits from balance-sheet distress — above roughly 3 is safe, below roughly 1.8 is the danger zone. It was built for manufacturers, so it is not applied to banks and lenders.

Ecolab Inc.: the Z-score reads 4.05. A Z-score above roughly 3 reads as safe and below roughly 1.8 as the distress zone, so this sits well clear of distress. It is a distance-to-distress estimate from the balance sheet, not a forecast of failure.

Why it matters: a Z-score of 4.05 sits well clear of the distress zone — the balance sheet is not the risk here.

The safety line in one sentence: the Z-score reads 4.05.

Frequently asked questions