Colgate-Palmolive Q2 Earnings Call Highlights

Colgate-Palmolive delivered broad-based Q2 growth , with organic sales increasing across most divisions, gross margin expanding 100 basis points and free cash flow rising 18%. The company returned $1.4 billion to shareholders and increased advertising investment. North America remains a weak spot because of softer categories, retailer inventory reductions and heightened competition. Management plans to expand brand support, emphasize premium innovation and selectively address pricing and promotional gaps to drive second-half improvement. Emerging markets and Hill’s pet nutrition provided important momentum. Hill’s gained share in a roughly flat pet-food market, while Latin America, India and China posted organic growth; the company is also expanding fresh pet food and scaling AI across pricing, marketing and productivity.

Colgate-Palmolive NYSE: CL said its second-quarter 2026 results reflected broad-based organic sales growth, gross-margin expansion and higher advertising spending, while executives outlined steps to improve performance in North America amid softer category trends and elevated competition. Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Noel Wallace said organic sales grew in four of the company’s five divisions and in three of its four categories. Growth was led by emerging markets, including India, Brazil, Mexico and China, while Europe and the Hill’s pet nutrition business also contributed. Get Colgate-Palmolive alerts: Sign Up

“We’re pleased to have delivered another quarter of strong top and bottom-line growth, particularly in the context of continued global volatility,” Wallace said. The company’s free cash flow increased 18% through the second quarter, and it returned $1.4 billion to shareholders, according to Wallace. The company also said John Faucher, executive vice president of M&A and special projects, will retire at the end of September. Wallace said the call was Faucher’s 40th quarterly earnings call with Colgate-Palmolive.

Colgate-Palmolive reported gross-margin expansion of 100 basis points in the quarter, including a modest benefit from tariff refunds. Wallace said most of the improvement came from the company’s core operations, including pricing, revenue growth management, productivity initiatives and product mix. Chief Financial Officer Stan Sutula said material costs were slightly below the company’s expectations during the quarter, as higher raw-material costs were partially offset by tariff refunds. He said the company does not expect meaningful additional refunds. Management said it now expects gross margin to be roughly flat for the full year, an improvement from its prior expectation for a decline. Sutula cautioned that raw-material costs and tariffs are expected to be higher in the second half than in the second quarter, although comparisons will be easier year over year. He said oil prices around $90 could make fourth-quarter costs somewhat lower than the company had previously assumed. Wallace said the company has been incorporating expected cost increases into its profit-and-loss planning and is using pricing, revenue growth management and promotional artificial-intelligence tools to protect profitability. The company increased advertising by double digits during the quarter and plans to maintain elevated investment behind its brands. “We believe our efforts in revenue growth management, promo AI, and funding the growth give us the ability to invest in advertising to build our brands while driving profit and EPS growth,” Wallace said.