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Colgate-Palmolive Company CL

Colgate-Palmolive Company scores good on business quality (6.2 of 10). Here is why, in plain words, and what our sealed record shows.

Last price$88.27Oct 10, 2026
Business qualityGood
Next earningsOct 30, 2026, before the open
Insiders, 90 daysSelling

Why it matters

  1. What Colgate-Palmolive Company does

    Colgate-Palmolive sells oral, personal, and home care products globally. Consumers buy its toothpaste and soaps daily, driven by trusted household brands. The business is pushing volume expansion through digital shelf optimization and emerging market distribution.

  2. What it does best

    Colgate dominates global oral care through unmatched retail shelf space and dentist recommendations. Its gross margin sits at 60.4%, beating peer PG at 50.9% and outperforming 84% of its sector. This creates heavy consumer lock-in that rivals struggle to break.

  3. The main risk

    Heavy debt loads create structural vulnerability as debt-to-equity reaches 147.9. If consumer spending softens further, high leverage limits financial flexibility and increases vulnerability to interest burdens.

Quality, check by check

Scored against its own industry, from company filings.

ProfitabilityStrong

Gross margin hits 60.4% with an operating margin of 21.1%, leading to strong free cash flow generation. The business expands its profitability efficiently as revenue scales.

MoatStrong

Global brand equity locks in everyday consumers through deeply entrenched habits. Its operating margin ranks in the top quartile at the 86th percentile, making replication difficult for new entrants.

GrowthSlow

Revenue growth registers at 1.4%, lagging the broader sector at the 32nd percentile. History shows steady multi-year top-line gains from $16.5B in 2020 to $21.0B latest, but the current expansion rate remains muted.

Financial healthFair

Total debt sits at $8.0B against $1.4B in cash, producing an interest coverage of 17.4x where debt costs remain manageable. Free cash flow reached $3.9B and continues trending upward, keeping the balance sheet steady.

Insiders

Executives and directors, from SEC Form 4 filings we read ourselves. Open market trades only; grants, option exercises and pre-planned sales left out.

3 sold $31.0M outside pre-planned sales.

Our sealed record on CL

Verdicts appear here 30 days after we publish them; members see today's. Each one is in the nightly ledger, fingerprinted the night it was made.

The first sealed verdicts appear here on Oct 11, 2026.

Questions

Is CL a good business?

Colgate-Palmolive Company scores good on the Cluenex quality check (6.2 of 10), measured against its own industry. Profitability is strong, moat strong, growth slow and financial health fair.

Are insiders buying CL?

In the last 90 days of SEC Form 4 filings: 3 sold $31.0M outside pre-planned sales.

When does CL report earnings?

Oct 30, 2026, before the open.

For members

See CL today

  • Today's verdict on CL, and why
  • Fair value with cautious, base and optimistic cases
  • The exact price that would change the verdict
  • Which stocks each signal names, the night it fires
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Cite this page: Cluenex, “Colgate-Palmolive Company (CL)”, https://cluenex.com/stocks/cl/, data as of Oct 10, 2026.