Consumer products company Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL) announced better-than-expected revenue in Q1 CY2026, with sales up 8.4% year on year to $5.32 billion. Its non-GAAP profit of $0.97 per share was 2.7% above analysts’ consensus estimates.

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Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE: CL) today reported results for first quarter 2026. Noel Wallace, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented on the Base Business first quarter results, “We delivered a strong start to 2026, with broad-based top and bottom-line growth. Net sales and organic sales grew in every category and in four of five divisions with a nice balance of volume and pricing growth. Gross profit margin increased sequentially versus fourth quarter 2025 and operating profit, net income, earnings per share and free cash flow all increased year over year along with an increase in advertising spending.

Company Overview

Formed after the 1928 combination between toothpaste maker Colgate and soap maker Palmolive-Peet, Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL) is a consumer products company that focuses on personal, household, and pet products.

Revenue Growth

Reviewing a company’s long-term sales performance reveals insights into its quality. Any business can put up a good quarter or two, but many enduring ones grow for years.

With $20.8 billion in revenue over the past 12 months, Colgate-Palmolive is one of the most widely recognized consumer staples companies. Its influence over consumers gives it negotiating leverage with distributors, enabling it to pick and choose where it sells its products (a luxury many don’t have). However, its scale is a double-edged sword because it’s harder to find incremental growth when your existing brands have penetrated most of the market. For Colgate-Palmolive to boost its sales, it likely needs to adjust its prices, launch new offerings, or lean into foreign markets.

As you can see below, Colgate-Palmolive grew its sales at a tepid 4.3% compounded annual growth rate over the last three years, but to its credit, consumers bought more of its products.

This quarter, Colgate-Palmolive reported year-on-year revenue growth of 8.4%, and its $5.32 billion of revenue exceeded Wall Street’s estimates by 1.8%.

Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 3.2% over the next 12 months, similar to its three-year rate. This projection doesn't excite us and implies its products will face some demand challenges. At least the company is tracking well in other measures of financial health.

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Volume Growth

Revenue growth can be broken down into changes in price and volume (the number of units sold). While both are important, volume is the lifeblood of a successful staples business as there’s a ceiling to what consumers will pay for everyday goods; they can always trade down to non-branded products if the branded versions are too expensive.

To analyze whether Colgate-Palmolive generated its growth from changes in price or volume, we can compare its volume growth to its organic revenue growth, which excludes non-fundamental impacts on company financials like mergers and currency fluctuations.

Over the last two years, Colgate-Palmolive’s average quarterly volume growth was a healthy 1.2%. Even with this good performance, we can see that most of the company’s gains have come from price increases by looking at its 3.6% average organic revenue growth. The ability to sell more products while raising prices indicates that Colgate-Palmolive enjoys some degree of inelastic demand.

In Colgate-Palmolive’s Q1 2026, sales volumes jumped 1.1% year on year. This result was in line with its historical levels.

Key Takeaways from Colgate-Palmolive’s Q1 Results

It was encouraging to see Colgate-Palmolive beat analysts’ revenue expectations this quarter. We were also happy its organic revenue narrowly outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. This ultimately led to an EPS beat. Overall, this was a solid quarter. The stock traded up 2.2% to $87.28 immediately following the results.

So should you invest in Colgate-Palmolive right now? We think that the latest quarter is only one piece of the longer-term business quality puzzle. Quality, when combined with valuation, can help determine if the stock is a buy. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).