Ecolab Inc. (ECL)

NYSE: ECL · USD

$292

+1.14 (+0.4%)· Recorded snapshot

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StockMarketAgent Research · Analyzed 2026-10-03

Our latest published analysis: ECL rated Sell

Ecolab Inc.'s published Sell conclusion compares the analysis-date price with fair value and potential value. Read the full report for assumptions, evidence, and material risks.

Fair value

$204 / share

Potential value

$252 / share

Upside to FV

-25.5%

from $292

Moat

9/10

Wide

Read full analysis →View archive · 24mo

9-phase methodology · same model in each published edition

Market cap	$76.7B
Revenue (ttm)	17.4B
Net income (ttm)	2.1B
EPS (ttm)	$7.35
Shares out	280.3M
P/E (trailing)	39.8x
P/E (forward)	29.7x
Dividend	$2.92 (1.00%)
Volume	889,192
Beta	0.88

Market data

Price

Recent price action with selectable time range.

Financial snapshot

Revenue (ttm): 17.4B
Net income (ttm): 2.1B
EPS (ttm): $7.35
P/E (trailing): 39.8x
P/E (forward): 29.7x
Market cap: $76.7B

Item	P1	P2	P3	P4	P5	Trend
Period	2021-12-31	2022-12-31	2023-12-31	2024-12-31	2025-12-31	Trend
Revenue	$12.73B	$14.19B	$15.32B	$15.74B	$16.08B	+6.0%
Gross profit	$5.22B	$5.42B	$6.18B	$6.84B	$7.16B	+8.2%
Operating income	$1.60B	$1.56B	$1.99B	$2.80B	$2.74B	+14.4%
Net income	$1.13B	$1.09B	$1.37B	$2.11B	$2.08B	+16.4%
EPS (diluted)	$3.91	$3.81	$4.79	$7.37	$7.28	+16.8%
EBITDA	$2.47B	$2.55B	$3.03B	$3.85B	$3.46B	+8.8%
R&D	$186.0M	$190.0M	$192.0M	$207.0M	$202.0M	+2.1%
SG&A	$3.42B	$3.65B	$4.06B	$4.23B	$4.26B	+5.7%

Ticker	Name	Market cap	P/E	P/S	ROIC	5Y rev CAGR	1Y total return	Rating
AAL	American Airlines Group Inc.	8.3B	—	0.1x	3.0%	+20.0%	-6.9%	Halten
ALB	Albemarle Corporation	11.4B	198.9x	1.9x	4.1%	+12.8%	+1.9%	Halten
ANET	Arista Networks Inc.	235.7B	59.1x	22.4x	284.8%	+32.0%	+19.7%	Verkaufen
APD	Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.	68.3B	—	5.4x	8.9%	+5.2%	+23.1%	Halten
AVY	Avery Dennison Corporation	13.7B	19.8x	1.5x	15.1%	+3.3%	+1.6%	Halten
BALL	Ball Corporation	16.7B	18.0x	1.2x	8.7%	+2.3%	+28.3%	Kaufen

Base and Bull scenarios

Base60%

Price target

$203.99

-25.5% from spot

Ecolab executes cleanly on its core operational targets: Water Services preserves steady consumable pricing and volume replenishment, operating margins expand toward guided targets, and China debottlenecking supports steady bioprocessing demand. However, even under this successful operating performance, fundamental cash flows yield Fair value of $203.99, indicating that shares at $273.70 reflect an implied return of -25.5%.

Revenue grows 11.46% in FY2026 ($17,924.1M) and 7.94% in FY2027 ($19,347.5M), normalizing toward 5.5% by FY2030
Operating margin expands from 17.02% in FY2025 to 18.0% in FY2026, 19.5% in FY2027, and 20.0% by FY2028
Cost of equity of 9.0231% and WACC of 8.3627%, with terminal multiple of 24.0x P/E

Bull20%

Price target

$251.65

-8.1% from spot

Rapid commercial scaling of CoolIT liquid cooling systems across AI data centers multiplies addressable sales opportunities 3x to 5x, while China purification debottlenecking sustains double-digit life sciences growth toward a 30% ROI. Value pricing overcomes raw material inflation rapidly within three months, accelerating operating margin expansion beyond 20% and driving valuation toward the upper fair value boundary of $251.65.

Operating margin reaches 20.5% by FY2028 supported by high-tech mix shift and rapid value pricing
Global high-tech scales toward $4B revenue by 2030 growing over 25% annually
China plant debottlenecking drives purification volume growth above 15% with 30% segment margins

Sensitivity: Ke × terminal growth

The highlighted cell is Fair value when every assumption sits at its base level ($203.99). Each row and column shows what Fair value becomes when one assumption moves.

Ke ↓ / g →	2.0%	2.3%	2.5%	2.8%	3.0%
8.0%	$219	$223	$227	$232	$237
8.5%	$208	$211	$215	$218	$223
9.0%	$198	$201	$204	$207	$211
9.5%	$190	$193	$195	$198	$200
10.0%	$183	$185	$187	$189	$192

Scorecard

Published factor rows and weighted composite

Calendar

Next earnings

Upcoming earnings date and setup when available.

Upcoming

DateLoading

Window—

EPS estimate—

Revenue estimate—

Sector percentile context

Refreshed 2026-10-28 19:55 UTC

Forward P/E29.7

P25 n/aP50 n/aP75 n/a

Trailing P/E36.5

P25 n/aP50 n/aP75 n/a

ROE20.8

P25 n/aP50 n/aP75 n/a

ROIC12.2

P25 n/aP50 n/aP75 n/a

Benchmarks · 1M

All ECL indicators

Market & fundamental data

Available fields

285

Groups with data

Currency

USD

Showing 285 of 285 available metrics for this ticker.

Profile and market data

Ticker identity, listing, currency, market cap, and source dates.

Metric	Value
Amount currency	USD
CIK code	0000031462
Company name	Ecolab Inc.
Country	United States
Country code	US
CUSIP number	278865100
Earnings date	2026-10-27
Earnings time	bmo
Employees	48,000
Employees change	0
Employees growth	0%
Enterprise value	$95B
Exchange	NYSE
Financial currency	USD
Financial report date	2026-09-30
First seen	2026-05-09
Fiscal year end	December
Founded	1923
In index	SP500
Industry	Specialty Chemicals
Is primary listing	Yes
Is SPAC	No
ISIN number	US2788651006
Last 10-K release date	2026-02-23
Last earnings date	2026-10-27
Last refreshed	2026-10-28
Last stock split date	2003-06-09
Last stock split type	Forward
Market cap	$82B
Market cap category	Large-Cap
Next earnings date	2027-02-09
Options	Yes
Price	$292.41
Price currency	USD
Sector	Materials
SIC code	2840
Stock price date	2026-10-28
Symbol	ECL
U.S. state	Minnesota
Website	https://www.ecolab.com

Valuation

Multiples, yields, enterprise-value ratios, and valuation checks.

Metric	Value
Adjusted P/E ratio	36.32x
Average P/E ratio (10Y)	36.8x
Average P/E ratio (3Y)	37.08x
Average P/E ratio (5Y)	39.48x
Earnings yield	2.51%
EV/Earnings	45.61x
EV/EBIT	29.59x
EV/EBITDA	22.23x
EV/FCF	50.67x
EV/Sales	5.47x
FCF / EV yield	1.97%
FCF yield	2.29%
Forward EV/Sales	4.98x
Forward P/E	32.77x
Forward P/S	4.3x
Graham number	78.41522
Graham upside	-73.17%
Industry forward P/E	19.58x
Industry P/E	43.86x
Lynch fair value	$95.74
Lynch upside	-67.24%
P/(FCF - SBC) ratio	47.12x
P/(OCF - SBC) ratio	28.05x
P/B ratio	7.84x
P/E ratio	39.78x
P/FCF ratio	43.71x
P/OCF ratio	26.8x
P/S ratio	4.72x
PEG ratio	2.44x
Price/EBITDA ratio	19.17x
Sector forward P/E	15.1x
Sector P/E	22.71x

Profitability

Margins, returns on capital, cash conversion, and quality metrics.

Metric	Value
EBIT margin	18.48%
EBITDA margin	24.6%
Effective tax rate	19.5%
FCF margin	11.13%
Gross margin	43.99%
Operating margin	18.48%
Pretax margin	15%
Profit margin	11.99%
Profit per employee	$43,390
Profitable quarters	24
Profitable years	5
Revenue per employee	$361,923
ROA	7.3%
ROA (5Y)	6.61%
ROCE	12.98%
ROE	20.77%
ROE (5Y)	19.65%
ROIC	12.2%
ROIC (5Y)	11.92%
SBC / revenue	0.81%
Tax / revenue	2.93%

Growth

Revenue, earnings, cash-flow, and forward growth indicators.

Metric	Value
EPS growth	5.79%
EPS growth (Q)	-4.88%
EPS growth (QoQ)	2.63%
EPS growth 10Y	7.41%
EPS growth 3Y	19.48%
EPS growth 5Y	13.45%
EPS growth quarters	3
EPS growth years	0
FCF growth	19.1%
FCF growth 3Y	12.22%
FCF growth 5Y	5.77%
Gross profit growth	8.41%
Gross profit growth (Q)	10.9%
Gross profit growth 3Y	8.68%
Gross profit growth 5Y	8.17%
Net income growth	4.94%
Net income growth (Q)	-5.76%
Net income growth (QoQ)	3.07%
Net income growth 3Y	19.14%
Net income growth 5Y	13.02%
Net income growth quarters	3
Net income growth years	0
OCF growth	16.47%
OCF growth 10Y	3.17%
OCF growth 3Y	13.92%
OCF growth 5Y	9.98%
Operating income growth	12.5%
Operating income growth (Q)	11.56%
Operating income growth 3Y	15.87%
Operating income growth 5Y	11.4%
Revenue growth	9.33%
Revenue growth (Q)	12.72%
Revenue growth (QoQ)	6.33%
Revenue growth 10Y	2.77%
Revenue growth 3Y	4.89%
Revenue growth 5Y	6.92%
Revenue growth quarters	5
Revenue growth years	5

Financial statements

Income-statement and cash-flow amounts, totals and per share.

Metric	Value
Capital expenditures	$-1.2B
Depreciation and amortization	$1.1B
EBIT	$3.2B
EBITDA	$4.3B
EPS	$7.35
FCF per share	$6.69
Financing cash flow	$3B
Free cash flow	$1.9B
Free cash flow minus SBC	$1.7B
Gross profit	$7.6B
Income taxes	$508.2M
Investing cash flow	$-2.9B
Net borrowing	$5B
Net cash flow	$3.2B
Net income	$2.1B
Operating cash flow minus SBC	$2.9B
Operating income	$3.2B
Revenue	$17.4B
Stock-based compensation	$135.8M

Financial strength

Debt, cash, solvency, accounting-quality, and balance-sheet signals.

Metric	Value
Book value per share	$37.18
Debt / EBITDA	3.05
Debt / equity	1.32
Debt / FCF	7.35
Goodwill	$12.7B
Interest coverage	8.03
Long-term assets	$24B
Long-term liabilities	$14.3B
Net cash (debt)	$-13B
Net cash / market cap	-15.92%
Net debt / EBITDA	3.05
Net debt / equity	1.25
Net debt / FCF	6.96
Piotroski F-Score	4
Property, plant and equipment	$5.3B
Shareholders' equity	$10.5B
Tangible book value	$-7.4B
Tangible book value per share	$-26.26
Total assets	$31.1B
Total cash	$722.3M
Total debt	$13.8B
Total liabilities	$20.7B
WACC	8.11%

Liquidity

Current-asset coverage and working-capital efficiency metrics.

Metric	Value
Asset turnover	0.63
Current assets	$7.1B
Current liabilities	$6.4B
Current ratio	1.11
Inventory turnover	5.9
Net working capital	$1.3B
Quick ratio	0.71
Working capital	$720.1M
Working capital turnover	9.55

Dividends and buybacks

Dividend yield, payout, buybacks, and shareholder-yield indicators.

Metric	Value
Buyback yield / dilution	0.78%
Dividend growth	12.31%
Dividend growth (10Y)	7.63%
Dividend growth (3Y)	11.26%
Dividend growth (5Y)	8.75%
Dividend growth years	40
Dividend payment date	2026-10-15
Dividend payment years	56
Dividend payout frequency	Quarterly
Dividend per share	$2.92
Dividend yield	1%
Ex-dividend date	2026-09-15
FCF payout ratio	43.67%
Last dividend	$0.73
Payout ratio	39.72%
Shareholder yield	1.78%

Performance and technicals

Returns, volatility, beta, momentum, RSI, and moving-average context.

Metric	Value
10Y price change	154.26%
10Y return CAGR	10.97%
10Y total return	183.24%
150-day SMA	$272.36
15Y price change	429.53%
15Y return CAGR	13%
15Y total return	525.54%
1D price change	0.39%
1M price change	4.58%
1M total return	4.58%
1W price change	1.44%
1W total return	1.44%
1Y price change	4.5%
1Y return CAGR	5.65%
1Y total return	5.64%
20-day SMA	$284.87
200-day SMA	$275.67
20Y price change	545.4%
20Y return CAGR	11.05%
20Y total return	713.06%
3M price change	7.71%
3M total return	8%
3Y price change	85.66%
3Y return CAGR	24.17%
3Y total return	91.49%
50-day SMA	$281.23
50-day SMA vs 200-day SMA	50over200
52-week high	$309.27
52-week high date	2026-02-24
52-week low	$243.15
52-week low date	2026-05-19
5Y price change	32.2%
5Y return CAGR	6.94%
5Y total return	39.83%
6M price change	9.12%
6M total return	9.7%
All-time high	$309.27
All-time high date	2026-02-24
All-time low	$1.34
All-time low date	1984-03-23
Average true range (ATR)	$5.74
Average volume	1.4M
Beta (1Y)	0.31
Beta (2Y)	0.51
Beta (5Y)	0.88
Change from 52-week high	-5.45%
Change from 52-week low	20.26%
Change from all-time high	-5.49%
Change from all-time low	21,648.51%
Change from open	0.83%
Day's gap	-0.44%
Dollar volume	$260M
High price	$293.81
Low price	$288.30
Monthly RSI	59.3
Open price	$290.00
Position in 52-week range	74.5%
Premarket change	-0.08%
Premarket close	$291.27
Premarket price	$291.04
Previous close	$291.27
Price vs 150-day SMA	7.32%
Price vs 20-day SMA	2.61%
Price vs 200-day SMA	6.03%
Price vs 50-day SMA	3.94%
Relative volume	0.65
RSI	63.08
Sharpe ratio	0.18
Sharpe ratio (3Y)	0.95
Sharpe ratio (5Y)	0.23
Sortino ratio	0.52
Sortino ratio (3Y)	1.74
Sortino ratio (5Y)	0.58
Volume	889.2K
Weekly RSI	59.08
YTD price change	11.34%
YTD total return	12.24%

Ownership and float

Institutional, insider, float, short-interest, and share-count fields.

Metric	Value
Float	279.7M
Float percentage	99.79%
Shares change (QoQ)	-0.04%
Shares change (YoY)	-0.78%
Shares held by insiders	0.11%
Shares held by institutions	92.37%
Shares outstanding	280.3M
Short % of float	1.92%
Short % of shares	1.91%
Short ratio	4.4 days

Deeper analysis on ECL

14 sections in the full report · jump straight to what you need

Forecast

Base and Bull forecast paths with report-date return framing.

→

Valuation

Fair-value bridge, DCF, owner earnings, and peer multiples.

→

Sensitivity

Cost-of-equity and terminal-growth stress table.

→

Risks

Kill scenarios, soft-pass flags, and downside catalysts.

→

Earnings

Next earnings setup and beat / inline / miss thresholds.

→

Position sizing

Entry, exit, conviction, and quarterly monitoring rules.

→

Financials

Revenue, margins, cash flow, and balance-sheet context.

→

Peers

Relative valuation and profitability against the cohort.

→

Moat

Economic-profit evidence and competitive advantage risk.

→

Industry cycle

Sector phase, capital cycle, and secular tailwinds.

→

Quote this valuation with its source: Fair value, Potential value and the price at analysis.

Frequently asked questions

About this ECL report

What is the latest published ECL stock rating?

Ecolab Inc. is shown with Sell in the latest published report, analyzed 2026-10-03. The hub links directly to the full analysis surface where the dated rating, fair-value bridge, risks, and scorecard are documented together.

Where can I read the full ECL analysis?

The full latest published report, analyzed 2026-10-03, lives at /stocks/ECL/analysis. The bare ticker page summarizes that read and links to each analysis tab; earlier editions remain under /analysis/archive.

What fair value is used for ECL?

The latest published report analyzed 2026-10-03 gives ECL a fair value of USD 204 and a potential value of USD 252. These are dated research outputs, not live market prices; review the valuation assumptions, sensitivity analysis, and material risks before making a decision.

How often is the ECL page updated?

The hub selects the latest published stock report regardless of age and displays its analysis date (2026-10-03). Separately sourced market data is labeled with its own recorded timestamp and is never inferred from the report.

SellECL · Fair value $204-25.5%

Read full analysis →

Ecolab Inc. (ECL)

Our latest published analysis: ECL rated Sell

Price

Financial snapshot

Fair-value bridge

Latest news · ECL

Valuation

Profitability

Balance sheet

Trading

Base and Bull scenarios

Sensitivity: Ke × terminal growth

Scorecard

Next earnings

Sector percentile context

All ECL indicators

Profile and market data

Valuation

Profitability

Growth

Financial statements

Financial strength

Liquidity

Dividends and buybacks

Performance and technicals

Ownership and float

Deeper analysis on ECL

Frequently asked questions

Ratingverlauf

Category	Score	Reading
Valuation	1.5
Management	6.5
Balance Sheet	6.0
Profitability	6.5
Revenue Growth	6.0
Risk Assessment	6.0
Competitive Moat	9.0
Earnings Quality	7.5
Capital Efficiency	6.5